Walgreens Raises Lower End Of FY17 Guidance; Q1 Profit Tops Estimates

(RTTNews) - Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) raised the lower end of its guidance for fiscal 2017 by 5 cents per share and now anticipates adjusted net earnings per share of $4.90 to $5.20. The guidance assumes accretion of $0.05 to $0.12 from Rite Aid. CEO Stefano Pessina said, "We continue to anticipate that growth in the second half of fiscal 2017 will reflect the new strategic pharmacy partnerships we announced last year. As a result, we have raised the lower end of our fiscal year guidance by 5 cents per share."

Walgreens continues to work toward closing the pending acquisition of Rite Aid in the early part of the current calendar year. Walgreens continues to expect that the acquisition will be accretive to its adjusted net earnings per share in the first full year after closing. The company also continues to expect that it will realize synergies from the acquisition in excess of $1 billion, to be fully realized within three to four years of closing of the merger.

First-quarter net earnings attributable to Walgreens decreased 5.0 percent to $1.1 billion from a year ago, while GAAP net earnings per share decreased 4.0 percent to $0.97. The company said the decreases in GAAP earnings per share primarily reflect a lower impact of UK tax rate reductions. Adjusted first quarter net earnings attributable to Walgreens increased 6.1 percent to $1.2 billion, up 8.2 percent on a constant currency basis, compared with the same quarter a year ago. Adjusted net earnings per share increased 6.8 percent to $1.10, up 9.7 percent on a constant currency basis. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit per share of $1.09, for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

First-quarter sales were $28.5 billion, a decrease of 1.8 percent from the year-ago quarter, and an increase of 1.1 percent on a constant currency basis. Analysts expected revenue of $29.24 billion, for the quarter.