Walgreens tops Wall Street's expectations as drugstore chain continues turnaround plan

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Walgreens booked a better-than-expected fiscal first quarter, but the drugstore chain lost $265 million as it closed U.S. stores and continued work to revive its business

Walgreens booked a better-than-expected fiscal first quarter, but the drugstore chain lost $265 million as it closed U.S. stores and continued work to revive its business.

The company, beset by shrinking prescription reimbursement, rising costs and other problems, had announced in announced in October a plan to close around 1,200 locations.

Walgreens said Friday that higher costs from that plan were the main factor behind its quarterly loss.

The company didn’t detail how many stores it has closed. The chain has already shed about a thousand U.S. stores since it grew to nearly 9,500 after buying some Rite Aid locations in 2018.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. also runs nearly 3,700 international stores, with locations in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Thailand and Ireland.

CEO Tim Wentworth said in a statement that the company is also working in 2025 on controlling costs and improving cash flow and prescription reimbursement.

“While our turnaround will take time, our early progress reinforces our belief in a sustainable, retail pharmacy-led operating model,” he said.

In the fiscal first quarter, Walgreens recorded adjusted earnings per share of 51 cents. That excludes store closing costs. The company’s revenue grew 7.5% to $39.5 billion.

Analysts expected earnings of 38 cents per share on $37.4 billion in sales, according to FactSet.

Sales from the company’s main business, established U.S. retail pharmacies, grew more than 8%, helped by a jump in prescriptions. That countered a drop in sales for the retail area outside store pharmacies due partly to a