Rite Aid reports 'positive' earnings, expands its wellness services

By Sahara Marte

New York, June 21 - Rite Aid Corp. sees customer loyalty as the key to future positive results and aims to achieve that goal through more wellness services and remodeling its stores, John Standley, chief executive officer, said during the company's first quarter earnings conference call.

The company ended its first quarter on June 2 with $1.15 billion in liquidity.

It reported $6.5 billion in revenues, a 1.2% increase from the first quarter of 2011. The increase was driven by an increase in sales, added Standley.

Due to the increase in pharmacy margins, adjusted EBITDA increased $11.3 million from last year's first quarter, to $274.2 million. Its net loss decreased to $28.1 million from $63.1 million.

In addition to better sales, expense control contributed to the improved results.

"We continue to make strong progress thanks to our company's wide focus on executing key sales initiatives, taking good care of our customers and operating more efficiently," Standley stated.

The company aims for increased sales by providing more health services and building loyal customers, Standley added. The company has allocated $130 million for store remodeling and to add services to its pharmacies. It has remodeled 143 stores and expects to reach 423 stores by the end of the second quarter. It intends to have 780 stores remodeled by the end of the fiscal year.

With improved customer consistency, Rite Aid expects total sales between $25.3 billion and $25.7 billion for fiscal 2013. The company expects adjusted EBITDA to be between $950 million and $1.03 billion, while maintaining capital expenditures of $300 million.

Rite Aid is a Camp Hill, Pa.-based chain of drugstores.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.