CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid Corp. stockholders will vote next month on the company’s merger with Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA). Rite Aid has scheduled a February 4 special stockholders meeting for the balloting. Stockholders as of the close of business on December 18 will be eligible to vote. Rite Aid and WBA also announced
NEW YORK — CVS Health has raised the midpoint of its earnings outlook for 2016 and reiterated its five-year steady state targets. The company now expects next year’s adjusted earnings per share to range from $5.73 to $5.88, reflecting solid year-over-year growth of 11.25% to 14.25%. The bottom end of the range was increased by
NEW YORK — Drug chains were not immune to the shift in holiday shopping away from brick-and-mortar retailing, as sales growth barely exceeded 4%. That was down from last season’s 4.4% advance in holiday retail sales, and well off the 5.4% gain of five years ago. Same-store sales were up 1.8%, virtually unchanged from 2014.
BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Former longtime Walgreens executive George Riedl has been named president of health and wellness at Walmart. He succeeds Labeed Diab, who left Walmart to join Brookdale Senior Living Inc. as chief operating officer. Riedl most recently was president of Advanced Marketing & Sales Inc., an independent sales, marketing and consulting agency focused
NEW YORK — UnitedHealth Group Inc. may pull out of Affordable Care Act health insurance exchanges in 2017 after losing what it said were hundreds of millions of dollars on policies sold under the law. The company, the nation’s largest health insurer, significantly cut its 2015 profit estimates based on losses on individual policies sold
NEW YORK — Americans prefer generic drugs to brands for both prescription and over-the-counter drugs, according to a new Harris Poll. Among those who purchase prescription drugs for themselves, nearly seven in 10 (69%) say, given a choice, they would opt for generics more often. Three in 10 go as far as saying they would
MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. — Sona Chawla has left Walgreens to join Kohl’s Corp. as chief operating officer, a new position. She reports to chairman, president and chief executive officer Kevin Mansell. Chawla, who had been president of digital and chief marketing officer at Walgreens, joined Kohl’s at the end of last month. She spent seven
TORONTO — Shoppers Drug Mart (SDM) has debuted its sixth and seventh enhanced beautyBOUTIQUE store-within-a-stores in Ottawa and Montreal. The Ottawa boutique was unveiled at a store in the Rideau Centre. The Montreal boutique, named galerieBEAUTÉ, was unveiled in a Pharmaprix unit on Rue Sainte-Catherine. It is SDM’s first enhanced boutique in Quebec. The 4,000-square-foot
BOISE, Idaho — As Albertsons weighs staging an initial public offering it had originally planned for October, it is expanding with the purchase of 33 stores it had been forced last year to divest. A federal bankruptcy court last month approved the company’s purchase of the Haggen stores, which Albertsons had sold to win regulatory
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Sterling Drug, in collaboration with HealthPartners and PharmaSmart, has demonstrated the potential of community pharmacists to reduce hypertension. A six-month pilot program included 270 HealthPartners members who had a diagnosis of hypertension and a prescription at Sterling to lower blood pressure. Members who enrolled received a Smart Card allowing them to routinely
DEERFIELD, Ill. — Estimates vary widely on the number of stores Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) will divest as part of its $17.2 billion acquisition of Rite Aid Corp. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, WBA said the deal allows for up to 1,000 outlets to be closed or sold “if required
CINCINNATI — Kroger Co. plans to acquire food and drug retailer Roundy’s Inc. in a deal valued at about $800 million. Kroger said Wednesday that under the agreement it will buy all outstanding shares of Roundy’s for nearly $178 million in cash, or $3.60 per share, and assume Roundy’s $646 million in debt. Unanimously approved
DEERFIELD, Ill. — The consolidation of chain drug retailing climaxed last month with Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.’s (WBA’s) acquisition of Rite Aid Corp. In the largest outright purchase of a chain in the industry’s history, WBA agreed to acquire Rite Aid for $9 per share, or $17.2 billion, including debt. The price represents a premium
DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens Boots Alliance may have to divest up to 400 of the Rite Aid stores it is acquiring to satisfy antitrust regulations, analysts said. WBA is not publicly speculating on how many units it will have to shutter, said chief executive officer Stefano Pessina. “We have analyzed things very carefully,” he said
