Walgreens November Sales Increase 8.7 Percent

DEERFIELD, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) (NASDAQ: WAG) had November sales of $5,360,800,000, an increase of 8.7 percent from $4,933,433,000 for the same month in 2008. Sales in comparable stores (those open at least a year) increased 3.9 percent.

November pharmacy sales increased 9.7 percent, while comparable pharmacy sales increased 5.7 percent. Comparable pharmacy sales were negatively impacted by 2.4 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months.

Prescriptions filled at comparable stores increased 7.4 percent in November. Comparable prescriptions filled were positively impacted by 1.6 percentage points due to more patients filling 90-day prescriptions. Pharmacy sales accounted for 65.0 percent of total sales for the month.

Total front-end sales increased 6.1 percent in November, while comparable store front-end sales increased 0.8 percent. Front-end sales were negatively impacted by the slowing demand for cough, cold and flu products versus September and October and by the continued weakness in demand for discretionary goods throughout the month, with the Thanksgiving weekend notably softer.

The impact of calendar day shifts (not included in the numbers above) had a positive effect on November, which had one more Wednesday and one less Saturday compared to November 2008. Calendar shifts positively impacted total comparable store sales by 1.6 percentage points, comparable pharmacy sales by 2.4 percentage points and prescriptions filled in comparable stores by 2.4 percentage points.

Calendar year-to-date sales were $58,630,834,000, an increase of 7.7 percent from $54,440,697,000 in 2008.

Fiscal 2010 year-to-date sales for the first three months were $16,361,042,000, up 9.5 percent from $14,947,124,000.

Walgreens opened 47 stores during November, including seven relocations, and acquired two stores.

At Nov. 30, Walgreens operated 7,648 locations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. That includes 7,147 drugstores, 517 more than a year ago, including 60 stores acquired over the last 12 months. The company also operates worksite health centers, home care facilities and specialty, institutional 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. Franchisees of Option Care, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Walgreens, are not included in Walgreens location or store count.

Please note: Monthly sales numbers are preliminary and unaudited. 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. Relocated and acquired stores are not included as comparable stores for the first 12 months after the relocation or acquisition.