Fred’s reports total sales of $159.1M for the month of April
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Fred’s Pharmacy reported total sales for April decreased 3% year-over-year to $159.1 million compared to $163.9 million in April 2016. However, total comparable-store sales for the month increased 1.2% compared with a 0.3% increase in comparable sales in the prior year period.
Comparable store sales for April, considered the fiscal four-week period ended April 29, included a negative 1% impact as a result of the sale of low productive discontinued inventory versus April of last year. The April 2017 comparable store sales reflected double-digit growth for Easter seasonal categories, which was the result of the shift of the Easter holiday from March 27 last year to April 16 this year.
Fred’s also announced total sales for the first quarter of its fiscal 2017 decreased 3% to $532.9 million versus $549.5 million in the same period last year. The company closed 39 underperforming stores in the quarter. On a comparable-store basis, year-to-date sales decreased 1.2% versus an increase of 1% for the year-earlier period. Comparable-store sales for the quarter included a negative 1.4% impact as a result of the sale of low productive discontinued inventory versus the same quarter last year.
“The Fred’s Pharmacy healthcare transformation is well under way as we continue to experience sequential sales improvement,” said CEO Michael K. Bloom. “The initiatives we began implementing in 2016 and early 2017 are taking hold and laying the foundation for continued success. We have created substantial momentum in our Pharmacy businesses as we make the strategic shift to focus on healthcare, with specialty pharmacy sales growing double digits and driving our consolidated pharmacy comparable sales. In retail pharmacy, we are seeing sequential growth in adjusted script comps, while our generic dispensing rate has increased as we continue our focus on more profitable scripts. We remain confident in the Fred’s Pharmacy plan to improve our performance, and are already realizing the benefits of our comprehensive strategy and talented management team.”
Fred’s operates 601 pharmacy and general merchandise stores and three specialty pharmacy-only locations, including 14 franchised Fred’s Pharmacy locations.