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This excerpt taken from the CVS 8-K filed May 5, 2005. • FIRST QUARTER DILUTED EPS INCREASED 16.9% TO A RECORD $0.69
WOONSOCKET, RHODE ISLAND, May 5, 2005 - CVS Corporation (NYSE: CVS), today announced record sales and earnings for the first quarter ended April 2, 2005.
Net sales for the first quarter ended April 2, 2005 increased 34.7% to $9.18 billion, up from $6.82 billion during the first quarter of 2004. Same store sales (sales from stores open more than one year) for the quarter rose 8.2%, while pharmacy same store sales rose 8.8% and front-end same store sales increased 6.9%. Same store sales do not include the acquired Eckerd drugstores, which will be included in same store sales beginning in August 2005. The Company estimates the Easter shift had a positive impact of approximately 140 basis points on front-end same store sales for the thirteen-week period, and 45 basis points on total same store sales. Total pharmacy sales represented 71.1% of total company sales for the quarter. Third party prescription sales were 93.8% of pharmacy sales for the quarter.
Net earnings for the first quarter increased 18.4% to $289.7 million or $0.69 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $244.6 million or $0.59 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2004.
“The first quarter of 2005 was one of great accomplishment,” stated Tom Ryan, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of CVS Corporation. “Our core business is thriving, and we continue to gain share in the pharmacy and front-end businesses. We saw continued sales growth, good margin performance, and solid expense control. At the same time, we made considerable progress on the integration of the Eckerd assets.
“I am very pleased to report that the aggregate sales results of the 1,100 former Eckerd stores are trending positive to last year, having been in steep decline at the time we acquired them,” continued Mr. Ryan. “We are at the very beginning of what we expect to be a multi-year turnaround of the acquired stores.
“Furthermore, Eckerd Healthcare Services is now fully integrated with PharmaCare, and they are operating as one company. We are well positioned to continue to grow and serve both our corporate and managed care clients,” Mr. Ryan concluded.
For the first quarter, CVS opened 51 new stores, closed 17 stores and relocated 45 others. As of April 2, 2005, CVS operated 5,409 retail and specialty pharmacy stores in 36 states and the District of Columbia.
The Company will be holding a conference call today for the investment community at 8:30am (EST) to discuss the quarterly results. An audio webcast of the conference call will be broadcast simultaneously through the Investor Relations portion of the CVS website for all interested parties. To access the
webcast, visit http://investor.CVS.com. This webcast will be archived and available on the web site for a one-month period following the conference call.
CVS is America’s largest retail pharmacy, operating over 5,400 retail and specialty pharmacy stores in 36 states and the District of Columbia. With more than 40 years of dynamic growth in the retail pharmacy industry, CVS is committed to being the easiest pharmacy retailer for customers to use. CVS has created innovative approaches to serve the healthcare needs of all customers through its CVS/pharmacyâ stores; its online pharmacy, CVS.comâ; and its pharmacy benefit management, mail order and specialty pharmacy subsidiary, PharmaCareâ. General information about CVS is available through the Investor Relations portion of the Company’s website, at http://investor.CVS.com, as well as through the press room portion of the Company’s website, at www.cvs.com/pressroom.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. For these statements, the Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company strongly recommends that you become familiar with the specific risks and uncertainties outlined under the caption “Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements” in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 1, 2005.
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