Rite Aid February Same Store Sales Rise 3.3%

(RTTNews) - Retail drugstore chain operator Rite Aid Corp. (RAD) reported Friday a 3.3 percent increase in February 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 $2.56 billion for the month of February, up 1.7 percent from $2.51 billion in the comparable month a year ago.

Same store sales for the month of February improved 3.3 percent, reflecting a 4.1 percent increase in pharmacy same store sales, which included a 144 basis points negative impact of new generic introductions.

Front-end same store sales for the month also grew 1.6 percent, and prescription count at comparable stores increased 2.2 percent.

The company noted that prescription sales accounted for 69.2 percent of drugstore sales, and third party prescription revenue represented 97.6 percent of pharmacy sales.

For the fourth quarter, same store sales improved 4.5 percent, with front-end same store sales up 2.0 percent, and pharmacy same store sales increasing 5.7 percent.

Total drugstores sales for the quarter grew 3.5 percent to $6.80 billion from $6.56 billion in the prior-year quarter.

For the full-year-2014, same store sales improved 4.3 percent, with front-end same store sales edging up 1.2 percent, and pharmacy same store sales increasing 5.8 percent.

Total drugstores sales for the year grew 3.7 percent to $26.35 billion from $25.41 billion in the prior-year period.

In Thursday's regular trading session, RAD is currently trading at $7.93, down $0.12 or 1.49% on a volume of 1.50 million shares.