Walgreens July Comps. Up 6.3% - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Drugstore chain Walgreens (WAG) reported that its comparable-stores sales advanced by 6.3 percent in July, with calendar day shifts positively impacting total comparable sales by 1.4 percentage points, while generic drug introductions in the last 12 months adversely impacted total comparable sales by 1.8 percentage points. Further, the company announced July sales of $6.03 billion, up 8.0 percent from the prior year's $5.59 billion.

Total front-end sales went up 3.6 percent year-over-year, whilst comparable store front-end sales rose by 2.3 percent. Customer traffic in comparable stores slid 1.2 percent, whereas basket size increased 3.5 percent.

Pharmacy sales in July grew 9.9 percent, and comparable store pharmacy sales increased 8.8 percent and increased by a calendar day-shift adjusted 6.6 percent. Calendar day shifts positively impacted pharmacy sales in comparable stores by 2.2 percentage points. Meanwhile, calendar day-shift adjusted comparable store pharmacy sales were negatively impacted by 2.8 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last year. Pharmacy sales accounted for 64.6 percent of total sales for the month.