Financial News

QUINCY, Mass., and SALISBURY, N.C. — Ahold USA and Delhaize America unveiled plans to further strengthen their U.S. brands. This plan will be headlined by the merger of its Stop & Shop New York Metro and Stop & Shop New England Divisions into one brand organization.

 “Having a single brand organizational structure dedicated to Stop & Shop will strengthen the brand and will ensure it can better leverage its brand to serve the unique needs of customers in the different markets that Stop & Shop serves,” the company stated.

Last year, Drug Store News projected that GSK Consumer Healthcare’s Flonase allergy franchise would be challenged with the introduction of two new nasal corticosteroids to the market — McNeil Consumer’s Rhinocort and Bayer’s ClariSpray.

(To view the full Cough-Cold Report, click here.)

ISSAQUAH, Wash. — Costco Wholesale reported net sales of $9.08 billion for the month of January, an increase of 9% compared to $8.32 billion in sales during the same period in 2016.

U.S. comparable-store sales for the four week period ended Jan. 29 increased 6% year over year. When excluding impacts from gasoline prices and foreign exchange, U.S. comparable-store sales increased 5% year over year. For the total company, comp-store sales rose 7%.

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — Shares of Prestige Brands rose 6.6% in Thursday afternoon trading at $56.49 per share, driven by strong third-quarter earnings and solid performance from the company's OTC business.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Fred’s Pharmacy saw total sales for the month of January decline 5.6% year over to $148.1 million from $156.9 million. Comparable-store sales for the month decreased by 4.8% versus an increase of 0.7% during the prior year period.

As for its 2016 fourth quarter, total sales for the fourth quarter of 2016 decreased 4.3% year over year to $530.7 million from $554.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2015. On a comparable-store basis, Q4 sales decreased 3.6% versus an increase of 1.7% in the year-earlier period.

Generics have made a huge difference to the U.S. healthcare system’s bottom line in the past decade, a savings that takes 13 figures to tabulate.

(To view the full Category Review, click here.)

NEW YORK — An Evercore ISI analyst maintained his “buy” rating on Walgreens Boots Alliance stock, stating that although its proposed deadline for a deal with Rite Aid has been delayed, “there is still a chance of a reasonable outcome for both parties.”

The companies pushed back the deadline for merger from Jan. 27 to July 31 and trimmed the purchase price paid to Rite Aid to $6.50 to $7 per share — based upon the number of store divestitures the FTC requires — from $9 per share.

NEW YORK — 2017 will be another busy year for merger and acquisition activity in the U.S., S&P Global Ratings stated in its latest report.

President Trump’s plans for lower corporate taxes, repatriation of cash held abroad, and a most business-friendly climate bode well for deal making, S&P wrote in its new report, “New Administration Could Spur M&A Activity, But Antitrust Regulation is Not Going Away.”