COVID-19 also continued to eat away at its business, particularly in the
Walgreens executives told analysts Thursday morning that the ongoing pandemic delivered a hit of between
That's a lower amount than in the two previous quarters, and company officials have said they expect the pandemic’s impact to subside in the second half of the fiscal year.
“We remain cautiously optimistic for the year as a whole,” said Executive Vice Chairman and CEO
In its fiscal first quarter, Walgreens booked a
Walgreens runs more than 21,000 stores mainly in
Walgreens said it still felt the pandemic in its fiscal first quarter, with fewer customer visits and new prescription starts as people stayed away from doctor offices as well. It also saw weaker sales of products to help with colds, coughs and the flu.
In the
Walgreens and rival
But Walgreens said gains from those shots will likely be countered in part by pandemic-related lockdowns or restrictions.
Overall, Walgreens booked adjusted earnings of
Analysts expected, on average, earnings of
Walgreens announced last July that Pessina would step down as CEO as soon as the company finds his successor. The chief executive said Thursday that Walgreens' board has been “very active” in its search, and he hopes to have news to share soon.
Shares of
Walgreens stock also climbed Wednesday after the company said it would sell its pharmaceutical wholesale business to
Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from
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