Walgreens September Sales Increase 10.3 Percent

Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) (NASDAQ: WAG) had September sales of $5,349,100,000, an increase of 10.3 percent from $4,849,078,000 for the same month in 2008. Sales in comparable stores (those open at least a year) increased 5.3 percent, while comparable store front-end sales increased 2.0 percent.

September pharmacy sales increased 11.2 percent, while comparable pharmacy sales increased 7.0 percent. Comparable pharmacy sales were positively impacted by 2.4 percentage points due to seasonal flu shots, and negatively impacted by 2.3 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months.

Prescriptions filled at comparable stores increased 12.0 percent in September, including 5.2 percentage points due to seasonal flu shots and 1.4 percentage points due to more patients filling 90-day prescriptions. Pharmacy sales accounted for 67.6 percent of total sales for the month.

Calendar day shifts had a negative impact on the month, as September had one extra Wednesday and one less Monday compared to September 2008. Calendar shifts negatively impacted total comparable store sales by 0.2 percentage points, comparable pharmacy sales by 0.3 percentage points and prescriptions filled in comparable stores by 0.3 percentage points.

Calendar year-to-date sales were $47,618,893,000, an increase of 7.4 percent from $44,342,651,000 in 2008.

Walgreens fiscal year began Sept. 1, so fiscal year-to-date sales are the same as the month’s sales.

Walgreens opened 48 stores during September, including 6 relocations.

At Sept. 30, Walgreens operated 7,543 locations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. That includes 7,045 drugstores, 566 more than a year ago, including 67 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.