WALGREENS

Walgreens executives last week were upbeat looking ahead to calendar 2013, identifying the company's growing base of Well Experience format stores, the expanding role retail pharmacy plays in the delivery of health care and the promise to be realized through creating a global pharmacy operator as the three primary reasons lifting their spirits. 

Half of the primary care work-site health centers managed by Walgreens Employer Solutions Group have received AAAHC accreditation as patient-centered medical homes, with plans to have all of the company’s employer-based primary care centers accredited in the first half of 2013.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid's fundamentals are improving, and Wall Street has taken notice. 

Rite Aid stock was up slightly by three cents late Thursday afternoon from its previous close of $1.41 per share. But shares were trading at $1.02 per share on Dec. 19, the day before Rite Aid announced third quarter results. 

MOBILE, Ala. — A video depicting a tornado blowing through the parking lot of a Walgreens was posted to YouTube on Wednesday. The footage captures both shoppers and store employees reacting to the tornado with footage from both outside and inside the store. 

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens Infusion Services has been selected as a contracted provider of a new injectable medication that helps patients with short bowel syndrome get more — or all — of their nutrients orally, reducing their dependence on intravenous parenteral nutrition, the division announced Wednesday.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Though total same-store sales were down 8%, Walgreens Friday morning characterized a first quarter lifted by a steady influx of returning Express Scripts patients and driven by a steady stream of new Balance Rewards members. The Chicagotown retailer has signed 45 million Walgreens faithful since mid-September. "Today, we have the wind at our backs as we head into a new calendar year," Walgreens president and CEO Greg Wasson told analysts Friday morning.  

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid beat analyst expectations in third quarter 2013 as the generic wave and retention of Express Scripts customers helped drive better-than-expected adjusted EBITDA and produced the company's first profitable quarter in five years.

"I am proud that we have achieved this significant milestone by putting our customers first and challenging ourselves to better serve them," Rite Aid president, chairman and CEO John Standley said in a conference call with Wall Street analysts Thursday morning.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens on Thursday announced $100,000 in additional donations to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. The company, which includes Duane Reade in New York and New Jersey, is making two $50,000 contributions, one to the Empire State Relief Fund announced by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and the other to the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund established by Gov. Chris Christie.