Walgreens delivered a better-than-expected fiscal second quarter and smaller loss a month after asserting that it might be purchased by a non-public fairness agency.
The pharmacy chain booked pharmacy gross sales positive aspects, and its struggling VillageMD clinic enterprise delivered a smaller steadiness sheet hit within the not too long ago concluded quarter.
General, Walgreens stated Tuesday that it misplaced $2.85 billion in comparison with a $5.91 billion loss within the earlier 12 months’s quarter. Adjusted outcomes not counting one-time gadgets totaled 63 cents per share in the newest quarter. Gross sales grew 4% to $38.59 billion.
Analysts anticipated fiscal second-quarter earnings of 53 cents per share on about $38 billion in income, based on the info agency FactSet.
Walgreens stated in March that it had agreed to be acquired by the non-public fairness agency Sycamore Companions in a take care of an fairness worth of slightly below $10 billion.
The buyout got here as the pharmacy chain offers with a number of issues together with skinny prescription reimbursement, rising prices and a VillageMD clinic enterprise that has struggled to realize traction with sufferers.
The Deerfield, Illinois, firm is chopping prices and closing shops. In January, It stated it was suspending a quarterly dividend it has provided for greater than 90 years.
In its fiscal second quarter, gross sales from Walgreens’ established U.S. pharmacies jumped 12%, helped partly by extra prescriptions. However retail gross sales in these shops slipped round 3%.
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. additionally runs almost 3,700 worldwide shops, with places in the UK, Mexico, Thailand and Eire. The U.S. section is the most important a part of its enterprise.
Within the current quarter, Walgreens stated its working loss included a $3 billion, non-cash impairment cost tied partly to its VillageMD enterprise. That compares to a cost of greater than $12 billion within the earlier 12 months’s quarter.
Walgreens withdrew its annual forecast because of its pending deal and didn’t host a convention name with analysts to debate outcomes.
Firm shares superior 19 cents to $10.90 Tuesday morning whereas market indexes staged a much bigger rally from losses Monday.
