Walgreens May Comp Sales Rise - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Drugstore chain Walgreens (WAG) recorded May sales of $6.57 billion, a 6.0 percent improvement from $6.19 billion last year. The Deerfield, Illinois-based company's comparable-stores sales advanced by 4.4 percent in May, with calendar day shifts negatively affecting total comparable sales by 1.3 percentage points. Generic drug introductions in the last year adversely impacted total comparable sales by 0.8 percentage point, Walgreens added.

On a year-over-year basis, total front-end sales were up 3.0 percent in May, whilst comparable-store front-end sales grew by 2.6 percent. Customer traffic in comparable stores decreased 0.5 percent, whereas basket size increased 3.1 percent.

In May, prescriptions filled at comparable stores rose 3.5 percent and up by 5.6 percent on a calendar day-shift adjusted basis. May 2014 had one additional Saturday and one fewer Wednesday compared with May 2013. These calendar shifts adversely impacted prescriptions filled at comparable stores by 2.1 percentage points.

May pharmacy sales climbed by 7.9 percent. Comparable store pharmacy sales increased 5.5 percent and advanced by a calendar day-shift adjusted 7.6 percent. According to the company, calendar day shifts hurt pharmacy sales in comparable stores by 2.1 percentage points.