Top Business News
Rite Aid Shares Fall on Sales Drop
Jeanine Poggi
07/02/09 - 11:11 AM EDT
Rite Aid(RAD Quote) still doesn't seem to be able to keep up with its competitors.
The drugstore posted a .6% drop in June same-store sales, while Walgreen(WAG Quote) saw a 3.4% jump during the month.
As a result, shares of Rite Aid tanked 9% to $1.40 during morning trading -- a disappointing result, only a day after the drugstore finally regained compliance with the New York Stock Exchange's share price listing requirement.
While Walgreen was able to offset softness in seasonal items and other discretionary purchases through prescription sales, Rite Aid wasn't so lucky.
Its pharmacy-store sales rose 1.4%, hurt by new generic drug introductions, while front-end sales sank 4.5%.
Total sales for the month also fell 2.5% to $1.97 billion.
Last week, Rite Aid refinanced most of its debt that was set to expire in September 2010. The company had a $145 million loan and $1.75 billion credit facility maturing in September 2010. After the refinancing, its only significant debts due before 2012 are its borrowings under its accounts receivable securitization programs. Those borrowings are due in September.