Pharmacy chain Walgreens plans to shut 150 of its places within the U.S. and 300 extra in the UK.
This continues ongoing cost-saving initiatives on the firm, together with greater than 500 company personnel jobs being minimize, Walgreens Boots Alliance govt vp and international chief monetary officer James Kehoe stated throughout the firm’s third quarter earnings name Tuesday.
The corporate has not introduced which places can be closed and didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from USA TODAY. The closings are anticipated to happen earlier than the tip of Walgreens’ 2024 fiscal 12 months in Might 2024.
Retailer closings are simply among the firm’s cost-saving measures, which come as Walgreens reported web earnings of $118 million, about 59% beneath the earlier 12 months, and failed to fulfill earnings expectations, based mostly on analysts polled by S&P World Market Intelligence.
Walgreens additionally lowered its incomes expectations for the total fiscal 12 months. However the firm expects to have saved $3.3 billion by the tip of 2023 and one other $800,000 in 2024, Kehoe stated, in keeping with a transcript of the earnings name from S&P World Market Intelligence.
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Decrease than anticipated demand for COVID-19 vaccinations – 800,000 vaccinations within the quarter represented an 83% decline from a 12 months in the past – and sharp declines in COVID-19 testing contributed to the corporate’s efficiency, Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Rosalind Gates Brewer stated throughout the name.
“We had referred to as out COVID as a wildcard heading into the quarter and have sadly seen much less affected person willingness to vaccinate,” she stated.
The corporate is now lowering its expectations for what number of COVID-19 vaccines it would distribute sooner or later. Moreover, Brewer stated the corporate presently had 1,100 places with diminished working hours, down from 1,600 on the finish of Might.
The corporate expects to face “rising challenges” resembling decrease shopper spending with the tip of stimulus funds and resumption of pupil mortgage funds, Brewer stated.
Walgreens inventory closed Friday down about 10% for the reason that firm’s earnings announcement.
Kate Perez covers breaking and trending information for USA TODAY. You may attain her at kperez@gannett.com or on Twitter @katecperez_.
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This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: Walgreens closing 150 US pharmacies in cost-saving technique