DEERFIELD, Ill., October 05, 2011 - Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) (NASDAQ: WAG) had September sales of $5.95 billion, an increase of 5.4 percent from $5.65 billion for the same month in fiscal 2011.
Total front-end sales increased 5.1 percent in September, while comparable store front-end sales increased 3.4 percent. Customer traffic in comparable stores increased 0.2 percent and comparable basket size increased 3.2 percent.
Prescriptions filled at comparable stores increased 1.9 percent in September. Calendar day shifts in September, which had one additional Friday and one fewer Wednesday compared with September 2010, negatively impacted prescriptions filled in comparable stores by 0.1 percentage point. Lower incidence of flu negatively impacted comparable prescriptions filled by 0.7 percentage point. Prescriptions filled at comparable stores also were negatively impacted by 0.7 percentage point due to fewer flu shots versus last year.
September pharmacy sales increased 4.6 percent, while comparable pharmacy sales increased 3.0 percent. Calendar day shifts negatively impacted pharmacy sales in comparable stores by 0.1 percentage point. Comparable pharmacy sales were negatively impacted by 1.7 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months and by 1.1 percentage points due to lower incidence of cough, cold and flu. Comparable pharmacy sales also were negatively impacted by 0.3 percentage point due to fewer flu shots. Pharmacy sales accounted for 66.4 percent of total sales for the month.
Flu shots administered at pharmacies and clinics season-to-date were nearly 1.9 million versus approximately 2.25 million last year.
“While we once again are seeing a slower start to the flu season, we have seen increased demand for flu shots in recent weeks,” said Kermit Crawford, president of pharmacy, health and wellness division.
Sales in comparable stores (those open at least a year) increased 3.1 percent. The effect of calendar day shifts negatively impacted total comparable sales by 0.1 percentage point.
Calendar year-to-date sales were $53.99 billion, an increase of 7.2 percent from $50.36 billion in 2010.
Walgreens fiscal year began Sept. 1, so fiscal year-to-date sales are the same as the month’s sales.
Walgreens opened 16 stores during September, including two relocations and acquired four.
At Sept. 30, Walgreens operated 8,235 locations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. That includes 7,779 drugstores, 199 more than a year ago, including 33 stores acquired over the last 12 months. The company also operates home care facilities and specialty and mail service pharmacies. Its Take Care Health Systems subsidiary manages more than 700 in-store convenient care clinics and worksite health and wellness centers.
Note that this year’s October has one additional Monday and one fewer Friday compared with October 2010, which is expected to positively impact comparable pharmacy sales and prescriptions filled.
| September Comparable Sales and Prescriptions Filled | |||||||||||||||
Calendar | Generics | Cough, | Flu | ||||||||||||
Reported | Impact | Impact | Impact | Impact | |||||||||||
| Total Comp Sales | 3.1% | -0.1% | -1.1% | -0.7% | -0.2% | ||||||||||
| Comp Front End | 3.4% | - | - | ||||||||||||
| Comp Rx Sales | 3.0% | -0.1% | -1.7% | -1.1% | -0.3% | ||||||||||
| Comp Rx Scripts | 1.9%* | -0.1% | - | -0.7% | -0.7% | ||||||||||
| * Includes +4.1% from patients filling more 90-day prescriptions | |||||||||||||||
Please note: Sales numbers and the adjustments shown in the table are preliminary, unaudited and subject to revision. Comparable stores are defined as those drugstore locations open for at least 12 consecutive months without closure for seven or more consecutive days and without a major remodel or a natural disaster in the past 12 months. Acquired operating locations and relocations are not included as comparable stores for the first 12 months after the acquisition or relocation.
Statements in this release that are not historical are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, assumptions and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, changes in economic and business conditions, competition, the incidence of flu and the number of flu shots administered, acquisitions, divestitures, changes in vendor, payer and customer relationships, outcomes of legal and regulatory matters and other factors described in Item 1A (Risk Factors) of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, each of which is incorporated herein by reference, and in other documents that we file or furnish with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those indicated or anticipated by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Except to the extent required by law, Walgreens does not undertake, and expressly disclaims, any duty or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement after the distribution of this release, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions or otherwise.
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