Walgreens August Sales Increase 6.8 Percent

DEERFIELD, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Walgreens (NYSE:WAG)(NASDAQ:WAG) had August sales of $5,228,300,000, an increase of 6.8 percent from $4,893,746,000 for the same month in 2008. Sales in comparable stores (those open at least a year) increased 1.9 percent.

Comparable store front-end sales decreased 1.3 percent. Front-end sales continue to be hurt by slow sales of discretionary items in a challenging economy.

August pharmacy sales increased 8.1 percent, while comparable pharmacy sales increased 3.8 percent. Comparable pharmacy sales were negatively impacted by 2.2 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months.

Prescriptions filled at comparable stores increased 4.8 percent in August, including 2.0 percentage points due to more patients filling 90-day prescriptions. Pharmacy sales accounted for 66.0 percent of total sales for the month.

Calendar day shifts had a positive impact on the month, as August had one extra Monday and one less Friday compared to August last year. Calendar shifts positively impacted total comparable store sales by 0.4 percentage points, comparable pharmacy sales by 0.6 percentage points and prescriptions filled in comparable stores by 0.6 percentage points.

Calendar year-to-date sales were $42,281,256,000 an increase of 7.1 percent from $39,493,573,000 in 2008.

Total sales for fiscal 2009, which ended Aug. 31, were $63,346,817,000 up 7.3 percent from $59,034,285,000. Comparable store sales for fiscal 2009 increased 2.1 percent.

Walgreens opened 57 stores during August, including five relocations, acquired two stores and closed one.

At Aug. 31, Walgreens operated 7,495 locations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. That includes 6,996 drugstores, 553 more than a year ago, including 69 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. Ninety-day prescriptions are counted as three 30-day prescriptions.