Walgreens delivered a better-than-expected fiscal second quarter and smaller loss a month after announcing that it would be bought by a private equity firm.
The drugstore chain booked pharmacy sales gains, and its struggling VillageMD clinic business delivered a smaller balance sheet hit in the recently concluded quarter.
Overall, Walgreens said Tuesday that it lost $2.85 billion compared to a $5.91 billion loss in the previous year’s quarter. Adjusted results not counting one-time items totaled 63 cents per share in the most recent quarter. Sales grew 4% to $38.59 billion
Analysts expected fiscal second-quarter earnings of 53 cents per share on about $38 billion in revenue, according to the data firm FactSet.
Walgreens said in March that it had agreed to be acquired by the private equity firm Sycamore Partners in a deal with an equity value of just under $10 billion.
The buyout came as the drugstore chain deals with a host of problems including thin prescription reimbursement, rising costs and a VillageMD clinic business that has struggled to gain traction with patients.
The Deerfield, Illinois, company is cutting costs and closing stores. In January, It said it was suspending a quarterly dividend it has offered for more than 90 years.
In its fiscal second quarter, sales from Walgreens’ established U.S. pharmacies jumped 12%, helped partly by more prescriptions. But retail sales in those stores slipped around 3%.
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. also runs nearly 3,700 international stores, with locations in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Thailand and Ireland. The U.S. segment is the biggest part of its business.
In the recent quarter, Walgreens said its operating loss included a $3 billion, non-cash impairment charge tied partly to its VillageMD business. That compares to a charge of more than $12 billion in the previous year’s quarter.
Walgreens withdrew its annual forecast due to its pending deal and did not host a conference call with analysts to discuss results.
Company shares advanced 19 cents to $10.90 Tuesday morning while market indexes staged a bigger rally from losses Monday.
FILE - A Walgreens logo is seen from the exterior of a store in Wheeling, Ill., Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, file)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as Venezuela's leader.
Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those shipments as U.S. forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production, refining and global distribution of the country's oil products.
Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”
“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.
The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.
“Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said Sunday. “Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”
Trump also responded to another account’s social media post predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.
Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long before Maduro's capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.
Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.
“It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”
A person watches the oil tanker Ocean Mariner, Monrovia, arrive to the bay in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
President Donald Trump attends a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
