(Reuters) – Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc beat analysts’ estimates for adjusted quarterly profit on Thursday, driven by higher sales at its retail pharmacy stores and higher prescription volumes, sending its shares up 3.4% in premarket trading.
The company has taken a number of steps to boost profit after the COVID-19 pandemic hammered sales and forced it to cut jobs, shut some UK-based Boots stores and sell its distribution unit to AmerisourceBergen Corp for $6.5 billion.
Excluding items, the company earned $1.22 per share, while analysts were expecting a profit of $1.03 per share, according to Refinitiv IBES.
Net loss attributable to Walgreens was $308 million, or 36 cents per share, in the first quarter ended Nov. 30, compared with a profit of $845 million, or 95 cents per share, a year earlier.
Revenue rose to $36.31 billion from $34.34 billion.
(Reporting by Mrinalika Roy and Dania Nadeem in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Anil D’Silva)
