Walgreens December Comp Sales Rise 6.1%

(RTTNews) - Drugstore chain Walgreen Co. (WAG) on Monday reported that comparable store sales, or sales at stores open for one year or more, grew 6.1 percent in the month of December 2013. Total sales for the month increased 7.2 percent from last year.

The Deerfield, Illinois-based company reported that total sales, including stores open less than a year, grew to $7.20 billion in the month of December from $6.72 billion in the same period of the prior year. Total comparable store sales for the month grew 6.1 percent.

Calendar day shifts positively impacted total comparable sales for the month by 1.7 percentage points, while generic drug introductions in the last twelve months negatively impacted total comparable sales by 0.7 percentage point.

Walgreen's total front-end sales in December grew 4.0 percent, and comparable store front-end sales increased 2.5 percent. However, customer traffic in comparable stores decreased 1.3 percent, while basket size grew 3.8 percent.

At the company's pharmacy counters, sales for the month increased 10.2 percent. Comparable store pharmacy sales also increased 9.0 percent, and increased by a calendar day-shift adjusted 6.1 percent. Pharmacy sales accounted for 58.3 percent of total sales for the month.

Calendar day shifts positively impacted pharmacy sales in comparable stores by 2.9 percentage points. However, calendar day-shift adjusted comparable store pharmacy sales were negatively impacted by 1.2 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months and were also negatively impacted by 0.2 percentage point due to fewer flu shots in December compared to last year.

Total prescriptions filled at comparable stores for the month of December increased 5.3 percent. It also increased 2.4 percent on a calendar day-shift adjusted basis.

Walgreens noted that calendar shifts positively impacted prescriptions filled at comparable stores by 2.9 percentage points. December 2013 had one additional Tuesday and one fewer Saturday compared with December 2012.

However, prescriptions filled at comparable stores were negatively impacted by 0.4 percentage point due to fewer flu shots in the month compared to last year, and were negatively impacted by 0.8 percentage point due to the lower incidence of flu in December 2013.

Walgreen's sales for calendar 2013 rose 4.5 percent to $73.72 billion from $70.52 billion in 2012.

The company's fiscal 2014 year-to-date sales for the first four months were $25.54 billion, up 6.3 percent from $24.03 billion in the comparable period in fiscal 2013.

WAG closed Friday's trading at $56.82. In Monday's pre-market trades, the stock is adding $0.89 or 1.55 percent to $57.71.