Rite Aid February Same Store Sales Rise 1.5%

(RTTNews) - Retail drugstore chain operator Rite Aid Corp. (RAD) reported Thursday a 1.5 percent increase in February same store sales, reflecting a 3.1 percent increase in pharmacy same store sales, which included a 138 basis points negative impact of new generic introductions.

Meanwhile, front-end same store sales for the month declined 1.8 percent, and prescription count at comparable stores decreased 1.4 percent, of which 1.3 percent decrease was due to drop in flu-related prescriptions.

Camp Hill, Pennsylvania-based Rite Aid reported total drugstore sales of $2.52 billion for February, up 2.4 percent from $2.46 billion in the comparable month a year ago.

The company noted that prescription revenue accounted for 69.1 percent of drugstore sales, while third party prescription revenue represented 97.3 percent of pharmacy sales.

For the fourth quarter, same store sales increased 2.1 percent, with front-end same store sales decreasing 0.7 percent, while pharmacy same store sales increased 3.5 percent.

Total drugstores sales for the quarter grew 2.2 percent to $6.57 billion from $6.43 billion in the prior-year quarter.

For the year-to-date twelve-month period, the company's same store sales edged up 0.7 percent over the year-ago period. Meanwhile, front end same store sales edged down 0.2 percent, while pharmacy same store sales grew 1.2 percent over the same period last year.

Total drugstores sales for the period were $25.41 billion, up 0.5 percent from $25.28 billion in the comparable period a year ago.

In Thursday's regular trading session, RAD is currently trading at $6.68, down $0.05 or 0.74% on a volume of 25.01 million shares.