Financial News

SAN FRANCISCO — McKesson on Thursday announced that the company has launched the voluntary public takeover offer for the outstanding shares of Celesio through its indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary Dragonfly in connection with the announcement on Oct. 24 of McKesson’s agreement to acquire Celesio.

NEW YORK — Sears Holdings chairman and CEO Eddie Lampert has pared down his stake in the retailing company, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday.

A Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed that Lampert reduced his stake in Sears Holdings to 48.4%, from a 55.4% stake reported in March. That leaves him with about 51.6 million shares in the company, whose stock was valued at $50.38 per share Wednesday morning on the NASDAQ, down from its opening price of $52.62.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens on Wednesday reported November sales of $6.1 billion, an increase of 4.1% for the same month in fiscal 2013.

Total front-end sales increased 3.2%, while comparable store front-end sales increased 1.9%. Customer traffic in comparable stores increased 0.8% and basket size increased 1.1%.

The company said that a meaningful increase versus prior quarters in promotional investment contributed to the improvement in traffic and comparable store front-end sales for November and throughout the quarter.

CARLISLE, Pa. – Paula Price is stepping down as Ahold USA's EVP and CFO, the supermarket operator said Tuesday.

MALVERN, Pa. — Shionogi and Egalet have entered a deal worth up to $425 million for the development of abuse-deterrent opioid painkillers, Egalet said.

The deal centers on the development and potential commercialization of experimental drugs containing the opioid painkiller hydrocodone.

NEW YORK — Pfizer on Monday announced that a wholly-owned Polish subsidiary of Pfizer has acquired the rights to Polocard, a low-dose aspirin (acidum acetylsalicylicum), and the leading over-the-counter brand for heart attack prevention in Poland, from ZF Polpharma SA.

OSLO, Norway — German chemical and pharmaceutical giant Bayer plans to buy Norwegian drug maker Algeta for $2.4 billion, Algeta confirmed Tuesday.

Responding to earlier media reports, the Norway-based maker of cancer drugs said Bayer would acquire it for 336 krone per share, equal to about $55.05. The company's share price increased to 349.40 krone, or $57.21 per share, in late-afternoon trading Tuesday on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Fred's Super Dollar on Tuesday credited an 8% lift in pharmacy department sales as a key factor accounting for the company's third-quarter success. "The investments in pharmacy growth have been validated by the 8% increase in its total department sales," said Bruce Efird, Fred's CEO. "Notably, our pharmacy department accounted for more than 40% of total company sales during the quarter.