Walgreens announced that it would follow through on its plans to increase its store count by about 8% this year, but it would be shrinking this growth to 6% in 2009 and 5% in 2010. The company operates over 6,200 pharmacies in the U.S. and Puerto Rico as of June 2008.
Walgreen Co. announced sales of $15 billion for the third quarter of FY08, with net earnings translating to earnings per share of $0.58. Analysts had been expecting slightly better results, $15.1 billion in sales and EPS of $0.59.
Walgreen agreed to pay a $35 million settlement related to a lawsuit that alleged that Walgreen illegally switched prescriptions for customers on Medicaid from generic forms of heartburn medicine to more expensive brand name versions. The company still denies any wrongdoing and stated that they settled the lawsuit to avoid the costs of a trial.
Walgreen announced that revenue in the first fiscal quarter of 2008 increased 10.4% compared with the same quarter of FY07 to a total $14.0 billion. Gross profit increased 9.3% to $3.9 billion while operating income increased 6.7% to $728 million; operating margins for the quarter fell from 5.37% in the first quarter of FY07 to 5.19% in this quarter, although the first quarter of FY07 benefited from introductions of several blockbuster generic drugs. The company kept earnings up by focusing on managing expenses and pushing private label products.
Walgreen announced that despite a 10% increase in revenue, net income dropped 3.8% (compared with the same quarter last year) in net income in the fourth and final quarter of fiscal 2007. The fall in profits was largely due to an industry-wide trend of falling margins on generic drugs.
Walgreen Co. opens its 12th full-service Distribution Center with more than 42% of the facility's workers having some sort of disability.
Walgreen Co. completes acquisition of Take Care Health System, a Care Clinic Operator focused in providing patient-first health care services
Walgreen Co. names CEO and President Jeffrey Rein, chairman of the company following retirement of former chairman David Baurneur.
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