Rite Aid Corp. Posts Narrower Loss In Q4; Issues FY24 Guidance

(RTTNews) - Rite Aid Corp. (RAD) posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $241.3 million, or $4.39 per share, compared to a net loss of $389.1 million, or $7.18 per share, prior year. The company said the decrease in net loss is primarily due to a reduction in goodwill impairment charges, a gain on the company's repurchase of certain bonds at a discount, a reduction in facility exit and impairment charges, an increase in adjusted EBITDA, and a gain on sale of assets resulting from sale leasebacks and script file sales from store closures.

Adjusted EBITDA was $128.6 million, compared to $106.1 million, previous year. Adjusted net loss per share was $1.24 compared to a loss of $2.24. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report a loss per share of $0.77, for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues were $6.09 billion compared to $6.07 billion, a year ago, largely due to an extra week in the fourth quarter and increases in both comparable front-end sales and non-COVID prescriptions, partially offset by a reduction in revenue from COVID vaccines and testing, store closures and the loss of commercial clients at Elixir. Analysts on average had estimated $5.67 billion in revenue.

For fiscal 2024, the company expects adjusted net loss per share to be between $4.44 and $4.93. Total revenues are expected to be between $21.7 billion and $22.1 billion in fiscal 2024. Adjusted EBITDA is projected to be between $340 million and $370 million.

Elizabeth "Busy" Burr, interim CEO, said: "We are making progress in our turnaround program to drive performance acceleration that we expect will help mitigate fiscal 2024 challenges related to reimbursement, COVID headwinds and enrollment at Elixir, and to drive meaningful Adjusted EBITDA growth in fiscal 2025 and 2026."

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