Rite Aid October Same Store Sales Rise 5.5%

(RTTNews) - Retail drugstore chain operator Rite Aid Corp. (RAD) reported Thursday a 5.5 percent increase in October 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 $2.06 billion for the month of October, up 5.0 percent from $1.96 billion in the comparable month a year ago.

Same store sales for the month of October improved 5.5 percent, reflecting a 7.1 percent increase in pharmacy same store sales, which included a 228 basis points negative impact of new generic introductions.

Front-end same store sales for the month also grew 2.0 percent, and prescription count at comparable stores increased 4.9 percent.

The company noted that prescription sales accounted for 70.1 percent of drugstore sales, while third party prescription revenue represented 97.5 percent of pharmacy sales.

For the year-to-date 34-week period period, same store sales improved 4.0 percent, with front-end same store sales edging up 0.9 percent, and pharmacy same store sales increasing 5.4 percent.

Total drugstores sales for the period increased 3.5 percent to $16.98 billion from $16.41 billion in the prior-year period.

In Thursday's regular trading session, RAD is currently trading at $5.40, up $0.15 or 2.86% on a volume of 9.73 million shares.