Walgreens November Comp Sales Increase 4.5%

(RTTNews) - Drugstore chain Walgreens (WAG) announced Wednesday that comparable store sales, or sales at stores open for one year or more, grew 4.5 percent in November, with total sales, including stores open less than a year, also increasing 4.9 percent from last year.

The Deerfield, Illinois-based company reported that total sales, including stores open less than a year, grew 4.9 percent to $6.36 billion in the month of November, from $6.06 billion in the same period of last year.

The company noted that its November sales results were negatively impacted by calendar day shifts due to one additional Sunday and one fewer Friday in November 2014 compared to November 2013.

Total comparable store sales also grew 4.5 percent, which had a negative impact of 1.3 percentage point due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months, and also a 1.3 percentage point negative impact due to calendar day-shift. However, more flu shots compared to last year positively impacted total comparable sales by 0.1 percentage point.

At the company's pharmacy counters, sales for the month increased 7.6 percent. Comparable store pharmacy sales also increased 6.7 percent, which was negatively impacted by 1.9 percentage points due to generic drug introductions, and by 2.0 percentage point due to calendar day-shift. However, more flu shots compared to last year positively impacted total comparable sales by 0.1 percentage point.

Pharmacy sales accounted for 65.2 percent of total sales for November. The company noted that flu shots administered at pharmacies and clinics season to date were nearly 7.0 million, compared to more than 6.1 million last year.

Total prescriptions filled at comparable stores for the month of November increased 2.6 percent, including a 2.0 percentage points negative impact due to calendar shifts, while it was positively impacted by 0.1 percentage point due to more flu shots compared to last year.

Total front-end sales in November grew 1.3 percent, and comparable store front-end sales was up 0.8 percent. Customer traffic in comparable stores declined 3.3 percent, while basket size grew 4.1 percent.

During the month of November, Walgreens opened 24 stores, including 12 re-location, and one closure. As on November 30, Walgreens operated 8,330 locations with a presence in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

For the first quarter of fiscal 2015, total sales improved 6.8 percent to $19.59 billion from last year, with comparable store sales increasing 5.8 percent. Front-end comparable store sales grew 1.5 percent, prescriptions filled at comparable stores increased 4.2 percent and comparable pharmacy sales improved 8.3 percent.

For the calendar year-to-date eleven-month period, total sales grew 6.0 percent to $70.52 billion from the year-ago period.

WAG closed Tuesday's regular trading session at $66.75, down $1.14 on a volume of 3.07 million shares.