“Walgreen Co. WAG +3.58% posted its first monthly same-store sales gain in a year in January, aided by an active flu season and firmer prescription orders stemming from the resolution of a contract dispute with a major pharmacy-benefits manager.
The 3.7% increase in same-store sales in January came above the projected 1.5% increase, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
Results last year were hurt by a rate contract dispute with pharmacy-benefits manager Express Scripts Holding Co. ESRX +1.64% that led millions of customers to transfer their prescriptions to rival pharmacies. But since Walgreen and Express Scripts entered a new multiyear agreement that began in September, millions have returned to the fold.
The loss of the Express Scripts customers, as well as higher demand for lower-priced generic drugs, hurt Walgreen’s same-store sales throughout 2012. In 2012, January’s same-store sales dropped 4.6%.
Walgreen has also successfully courted some customers it had lost in the dispute and hopes to win back more, gains executives expect will be reflected in many of 2013’s monthly sales reports. In January, pharmacy sales grew 8.7% and same-store pharmacy sales increased 6.2%, compared with an expected 2.4% jump. Prescriptions filled at comparable stores soared 14%.
Overall, total sales in January grew 6.3% to $6.15 billion from a year ago. Front-end sales were up 1.3%, while same-store front-end sales slid 0.4%, compared with expectations of a 0.5% drop….”
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