Walgreens Drops as U.S. Drugstores Feel Health-Care Pressure
- Company promises $1.5 billion in cuts to boost profits
- Lower pharmacy reimbursements have hurt back-of-store earnings
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Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. closed at its lowest price since 2013 after the company, the U.S.’s biggest standalone drugstore chain, fell victim to many of the pressures rippling through the health-care and retail industries.
In the back of the store at the pharmacy counter, where more than two-thirds of U.S. store sales come from, Walgreens is filling more prescriptions but making less money on them. Up front, same-store retail sales were down 3.8 percent, as the company sold fewer cough and cold products and brought in less from tobacco.