Walgreen June Comps Up 7.5%, Total Sales Climb 9%

(RTTNews) - Drugstore chain Walgreen Co. (WAG) Thursday said sales at Walgreens in June climbed nearly 9 percent, helped by over 7 percent growth in comparable sales. June 2014 had one additional Monday and one fewer Saturday compared with June 2013.

Sales in comparable stores increased 7.5 percent in June. Calendar day shifts positively impacted total comparable sales by 1.7 percentage points.

Meanwhile, generic drug introductions in the last 12 months negatively impacted total comparable sales by 0.9 percentage point.

Sales increased 8.9 percent to $6.28 billion from $5.77 billion for the same month in fiscal 2013.

Total front-end sales increased 1.8 percent, while comparable store front-end sales increased 1.3 percent.

Customer traffic in comparable stores decreased 2 percent while basket size increased 3.3 percent.

Prescriptions filled at comparable stores increased by 7.3 percent in June and were 4.7 percent higher on a calendar day-shift adjusted basis.

Calendar shifts benefited prescriptions filled at comparable stores by 2.6 percentage points.

Pharmacy sales increased 13.4 percent in June, the company said, adding that Pharmacy sales accounted for 65.2 percent of total sales for the month.

Comparable store pharmacy sales increased 11.3 percent and increased by a calendar day-shift adjusted 8.7 percent.

Calendar day shifts positively impacted pharmacy sales in comparable stores by 2.6 percentage points. However, calendar day-shift adjusted comparable store pharmacy sales were hurt by 1.4 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months.

Sales for the first six months of the year climbed 5.9 percent to $38.13 billion.

Walgreens opened 15 stores during June, including three relocations, and closed 13. Nearly all store closings were part of the company's efforts to optimize its asset base by closing a total of 76 drugstores.

As of June 30, Walgreens operated 8,319 locations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

WAG closed down 1 percent on Wednesday at $73.04. The stock is up 1.3 percent in pre-market trading.