In the latest fiscal year, Walgreens Boots Alliance continued on its path of transformation into a healthcare company, one that still operates a lot of drug stores, with a fourth quarter that beat analyst forecasts.
Company net loss from continuing operations in the fourth quarter was $415 million, or 48 cents per diluted share, versus net earnings from continuing operations of $358 million, or 41 cents per diluted share, in the year-before period.
Adjusted for one-time events, Walgreens reported, company net earnings from continuing operations were $694 million, or 80 cents per diluted share, versus $1.02 billion, or $1.17 per diluted share, in the year-past quarter.
Walgreens topped a MarketBeat-published analyst consensus estimate of 77 cents per adjusted diluted share and a sales estimate of $32.17 billion.
Sales in the quarter were $32.45 billion versus $34.26 billion in the year-earlier period. Operating loss from continuing operations was $822 million versus operating income from continuing operations of $910 million in the 2021 period, the company noted, and adjusted operating income from continuing operations was $744 million down 38.2% year over year on a constant currency basis.
U.S. Retail Pharmacy segment fourth-quarter sales decreased 7.2% to $26.7 billion, year over year. Comparable sales increased by 1.6% while retail comps decreased by 1.9% or 1.1% excluding tobacco sales.
For the full fiscal year, company net earnings from continuing operations were $4.34 billion, or $5.01 per diluted share, versus $2.54 billion,or $2.30 per diluted share, in the year previous, Walgreens stated, while adjusted net earnings from continuing operations were $4.36 billion, or $5.04 per diluted share, versus $4.6 billion, or $4.91 per diluted share, in the year past.
Sales were $132.7 billion versus $132.51 billion in the year prior. Operating income from continuing operations was $1.39 billion versus $2.34 billion in 2021, the company indicated, and adjusted operating income from continuing operations was $5.1 billion up 1.2% year over year on a constant currency basis.
U.S. Retail Pharmacy segment fourth-quarter sales decreased 7.2 % to $26.7 billion, year over year. Comparable sales increased 1.6% while retail comps decreased 1.9% or 1.1% excluding tobacco sales, according to Walgreens.
In announcing the fourth-quarter and full-year results, Walgreens CEO Rosalind Brewer said, “WBA has delivered ahead of expectations in the first year of our transformation to a consumer-centric healthcare company. Our resilient business achieved growth while navigating macroeconomic headwinds. Fiscal 2023 will be a year of accelerating core growth and rapidly scaling our U.S. Healthcare business. Our execution to date provides us visibility and confidence to increase the long-term outlook for our next growth engine and reconfirm our path to low-teens adjusted EPS growth. Our strategic actions are unlocking sustainable shareholder value as we simplify the company and continue our journey to being a healthcare leader.”
Walgreens operates approximately 13,000 retail pharmacy locations across the United States, Europe and Latin America,
