Walgreens January Comparable Stores Sales Rise 2.9% - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Drugstore chain Walgreens Co. (WAG) said that its comparable stores sales increased by 2.9 percent in January. Calendar day shifts negatively impacted total comparable sales by 0.3 percentage point, while generic drug introductions in the last 12 months negatively impacted total comparable sales by 0.9 percentage point.

Monthly sales were $6.39 billion, an increase of 3.7 percent from $6.17 billion in the same month in fiscal 2013.

Total front-end sales increased 2.4 percent compared with the same month in fiscal 2013, while comparable store front-end sales increased 1.6 percent. Customer traffic in comparable stores decreased 2.2 percent while basket size increased 3.8 percent.

Prescriptions filled at comparable stores decreased by 0.8 percent in January and decreased 0.4 percent on a calendar day-shift adjusted basis. January 2014 had one additional Friday and one fewer Tuesday compared with January 2013. These calendar shifts negatively impacted prescriptions filled at comparable stores by 0.4 percentage point.

Prescriptions filled at comparable stores were negatively impacted by 0.8 percentage point due to fewer flu shots in the month versus last year and were negatively impacted by 1.4 percentage points due to the lower incidence of flu in January 2014.

The company stated that January pharmacy sales increased by 4.6 percent, while comparable store pharmacy sales increased 3.7 percent and increased by a calendar day-shift adjusted 4.1 percent.

The firm stated that Calendar day shifts negatively impacted pharmacy sales in comparable stores by 0.4 percentage point. Calendar day-shift adjusted comparable store pharmacy sales were negatively impacted by 1.3 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months, and were negatively impacted by 0.5 percentage point due to fewer flu shots in January versus last year. The lower incidence of flu negatively impacted pharmacy sales by 1.1 percentage points. Pharmacy sales accounted for 65.6 percent of total sales for the month.