Walgreens Boots unexpectedly reported another quarterly loss in its fiscal first quarter and cut its dividend to shareholders by nearly half. Here are the key details:

Net Loss

  • Walgreens posted a net loss of $67 million, or 8 cents a share, compared with a loss of $3.72 billion, or $4.31 a share, for the same period a year ago.
  • Analysts polled by FactSet had forecast a net profit of $367.6 million, or 24 cents a share.

Adjusted Earnings per Share

  • Stripping out one-time items, the pharmacy giant’s earnings per share came in at 66 cents.
  • Wall Street had forecast adjusted earnings per share of 53 cents.

Sales

  • Walgreens’ sales climbed 10% to $36.71 billion, beating analysts’ expectations of $34.95 billion.

Highlights

  • Walgreens operated in a challenging consumer backdrop and is evaluating all strategic options to drive shareholder value while cutting costs.
  • The company maintained its fiscal 2024 outlook.
  • The quarterly dividend has been cut by 48% to 25 cents.
  • Retail pharmacy sales rose to $28.94 billion from $27.20 billion a year ago.
  • Comparable prescriptions filled increased 1.3% in the period.
  • Retail sales dropped 6.1%, with comparable retail sales dropping 5%, due to a weaker flu and respiratory season.
  • Boots UK saw higher comparable pharmacy sales of 0.8% and comparable retail sales growth of 9.8%.
  • Boots.com continued to perform strongly, with sales growing 18% in the quarter.

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