Walgreens sales in August are better than expected

New York City -- Walgreens said same-store sales rose 5.6% in August, better than expectations, helped by a calendar day shift.



Same-store front-end sales rose 4.8%, while same-store pharmacy sales rose 5.2% in August. Overall, net sales rose 7.8%, to $6.1 billion. Total sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011, which ended Aug. 31, were $17.94 billion, up 6.4% from the year-ago period.



Walgreens opened 21 stores during August, including three relocations, acquired three stores and closed three for a net increase of 18 in the month.



In other news, Walgreens said it plans to stop filling prescriptions managed by Express Scripts Inc. on Jan. 1, saying contract renewal negotiations between the companies are stalled. In documents filed Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Walgreen said it has started informing patients it won't be part of the Express Scripts network starting next year.