Walgreens reported a decrease of 3.7% in net sales and a 6.4% fall in same-store sales in April, compared to a 3.4% gain in the year-ago period. Toal pharmacy sales declined 6.3%, while comparable pharmacy sales fell 8.9% for the month, positively affected by calendar day shifts (0.6%), and negatively affected by generic drug introductions (-3.4%) and fewer incidents of cough, cold & flu (-0.5%) and no longer being part of the Express Scripts network (-10.7%). Total front-end sales were down 0.5%, while front-end same-store sales during the month dropped by 2.2% as customer traffic in comparable stores decreased 3.0% and basket size increased 0.8%. Pharmacy sales accounted for 62.6% of total sales and prescriptions filled at comparable stores decreased 7.8% in April. The negative impact on comparable store prescriptions filled due to no longer being part of the Express Scripts, Inc. pharmacy network was 10.7 percentage points. “We’ve seen month-to-month improvement in comparable prescriptions filled on a calendar adjusted basis each of the last three months, while our front-end business reflects our continued focus on a more relevant product mix, supported by a new advertising circular strategy that launched in February with continued pricing and promotion discipline,” said Walgreens Executive Vice President and CFO Wade Miquelon. Fiscal 2012 year-to-date sales for the first eight months rose 1.0% to $48.61 billion.
