Aug. 4, 2010 (Business Wire) -- Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) (NASDAQ: WAG) had July sales of $5.58 billion, an increase of 6.2 percent from $5.26 billion for the same month in 2009. Duane Reade stores contributed 2.9 percentage points to the total sales increase for the month.
Sales in comparable stores (those open at least a year) increased 0.4 percent. The effect of calendar day shifts negatively impacted total comparable sales by 1.0 percentage point. Duane Reade stores are not included in any comparable store results.
July pharmacy sales increased 4.3 percent, while comparable pharmacy sales were flat. The effect of calendar day shifts negatively impacted comparable pharmacy sales by 1.5 percentage points. Comparable pharmacy sales were also negatively impacted by 2.1 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months and by 0.4 percentage point due to lower incidence of flu. Pharmacy sales accounted for 65.6 percent of total sales for the month.
Prescriptions filled at comparable stores increased 2.0 percent in July, including 1.3 percentage points due to more patients filling 90-day prescriptions. Calendar day shifts negatively impacted prescriptions filled in comparable stores by 1.5 percentage points, while the lower incidence of flu negatively impacted comparable prescriptions filled by 0.9 percentage point.
Total front-end sales increased 9.4 percent in July, including 5.0 percentage points from Duane Reade. Comparable store front-end sales increased 1.1 percent. Customer traffic in comparable stores increased 0.6 percent, while basket size increased 0.5 percent.
Calendar year-to-date sales were $39.09 billion, an increase of 5.5 percent from $37.05 billion in 2009.
Fiscal 2010 year-to-date sales for the first 11 months were $61.80 billion, up 6.3 percent from $58.12 billion.
Walgreens opened 11 stores during July and closed eight.
At July 31, Walgreens operated 8,037 locations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. That includes 7,545 drugstores, 602 more than a year ago, including 283 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.
| July Comparable Sales and Prescriptions Filled | ||||||||
| Calendar | ||||||||
| Shift | Generics | Flu | ||||||
| Reported | Impact | Impact | Impact | |||||
| Total Comp Sales | 0.4% | -1.0% | -1.4% | -0.3% | ||||
| Comp Front End | 1.1% | - | - | |||||
| Comp Rx Sales | 0.0% | -1.5% | -2.1% | -0.4% | ||||
| Comp Rx Scripts | 2.0%* | -1.5% | - | -0.9% | ||||
| * Includes +1.3% from patients filling more 90-day prescriptions | ||||||||
Please note: Sales numbers and the adjustments shown in the table 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. Acquired operating locations, including Duane Reade stores and relocations are not included as comparable stores for the first 12 months after the acquisition or relocation.
