Rite Aid August Same Store Sales Rise 1.6%

(RTTNews) - Retail drugstore chain operator Rite Aid Corp. (RAD) reported Thursday a 1.6 percent increase in August same store sales, reflecting an improvement in pharmacy same store sales and front-end same store sales.

Camp Hill, Pennsylvania-based Rite Aid reported total drugstore sales of $2.55 billion for the month of August, up 1.6 percent from $2.51 billion in the comparable month a year ago.

Same store sales for the month of August improved 1.6 percent, reflecting a 2.1 percent increase in pharmacy same store sales, which included a 222 basis points negative impact of new generic introductions.

Front-end same store sales for the month also edged up 0.6 percent, while prescription count at comparable stores edged down 0.3 percent.

The company noted that prescription sales accounted for 69.6 percent of drugstore sales, and third party prescription revenue represented 97.9 percent of pharmacy sales.

For the second quarter, same store sales improved 2.1 percent, with front-end same store sales up 0.3 percent, and pharmacy same store sales increasing 2.8 percent.

Total drugstores sales for the quarter grew 1.9 percent to $6.60 billion from $6.48 billion in the prior-year quarter.

For the year-to-date 26-week period, same store sales improved 2.5 percent, with front-end same store sales up 0.5 percent, and pharmacy same store sales increasing 3.4 percent.

Total drugstores sales for the period grew 2.3 percent to $13.21 billion from $12.90 billion in the prior-year period.

Rite Aid, one of the nation's largest drugstore chains, operated 4,561 stores as at the end of the second quarter, compared to 4,572 stores at the end of the year-ago quarter.

In Thursday's regular trading session, RAD is currently trading at $8.22, up $0.06 or 0.74% on a volume of 0.83 million shares.