Rite Aid July Sales Metrics Mostly Improved From June

On Thursday

reported its sales results for July which were mostly improved from June. For the four weeks ended July 26, same-store sales rose 4.6 percent while front-end same-store-sales rose 1.5 percent. Pharmacy same-store sales rose 6.0 percent despite a 203 basis points negative impact from new generic introductions. Finally, prescription count at comparable stores rose 3.9 percent. All of July's sales metrics were an improvement from June where same-store sales rose 3.9 percent, front-end same store sales rose 0.9 percent, pharmacy same-store sales rose 5.4 percent and prescription count at comparable stores rose 3.5 percent. In July, total drugstore sales rose by 4.1 percent from a year ago to $1.975 billion but fell short of June's $1.995 billion figure. Prescription sales represented 68.6 percent of total drugstore sales while third party prescription sales represented 97.5 percent of total pharmacy sales. The company operated 4,573 stores in July, one less than it operated in June and 38 less than it operated a year ago.