Walgreen Sept. Comps Up 7.4% - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Drugstore chain Walgreen Co.(WAG) said its comparable-stores sales in September grew by 7.4 percent. Calendar day shifts positively impacted total comparable sales by 1.9 percentage points, whereas generic drug launches in the prior year adversely impacted total comparable sales by 0.5 percentage point, the company added.

The firm recorded September sales of $5.92 billion, up 8.0 percent from $5.48 billion reported a year back.

Total front-end sales for the month improved 4.1 percent year-over-year, and comparable store front-end sales rose 2.9 percent. On the other hand, customer traffic in comparable stores slid 0.8 percent, while basket size increased by 3.7 percent.

Monthly prescriptions filled at comparable stores advanced by 9.6 percent and went up 6.7 percent on a calendar day-shift adjusted basis. This year's September had one additional Monday and one fewer Saturday compared with September 2012. These calendar shifts positively affected prescriptions filled at comparable stores by 2.9 percentage points.