Walgreens starts the year on the right foot

Inclement weather was not enough to keep Walgreens from posting January sales of $6.4 billion, an increase of 3.7% as compared to the year-ago period.



Total front-end sales increased 2.4% compared with the same month in fiscal 2013, while comparable store front-end sales increased 1.6%. Customer traffic in comparable stores decreased 2.2% while basket size increased 3.8%.



Prescriptions filled at comparable stores decreased by 0.8% in January and decreased 0.4% on a calendar day-shift adjusted basis. January 2014 had one additional Friday and one fewer Tuesday compared with January 2013. These calendar shifts negatively impacted prescriptions filled at comparable stores by 0.4 percentage points.



Prescriptions filled at comparable stores were negatively impacted by 0.8 percentage point due to fewer flu shots in the month versus last year and were negatively impacted by 1.4 percentage points due to the lower incidence of flu in January 2014.



January pharmacy sales increased by 4.6%, while comparable store pharmacy sales increased 3.7% and increased by a calendar day-shift adjusted 4.1%. Calendar day shifts negatively impacted pharmacy sales in comparable stores by 0.4 percentage points. Calendar day-shift adjusted comparable store pharmacy sales were negatively impacted by 1.3 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months, and were negatively impacted by 0.5 percentage points due to fewer flu shots in January versus last year. The lower incidence of flu negatively impacted pharmacy sales by 1.1 percentage points. Pharmacy sales accounted for 65.6% of total sales for the month.



Flu shots administered at pharmacies and clinics season to date were more than 7.5 million versus nearly 6.9 million last year.



Sales in comparable stores increased by 2.9% in January. Calendar day shifts negatively impacted total comparable sales by 0.3 percentage point, while generic drug introductions in the last 12 months negatively impacted total comparable sales by 0.9 percentage point.



Fiscal 2014 year-to-date sales for the first five months were $31.9 billion, up 5.7% from the comparable period in fiscal 2013.



Walgreens opened 12 stores during January, including three relocations, and closed three.