Rite Aid Posts Q4 Adj. Loss, Revenue Down 8.6%; Confirms Adj. EBITDA Outlook

(RTTNews) - Rite Aid Corp. (RAD) reported a fourth-quarter adjusted loss from continuing operations per share of $0.01, compared to adjusted net income per share of $0.02, prior year. Fourth quarter pro-forma adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations was $173.2 million, compared to pro-forma adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations of $180.8 million, previous year.

Fourth-quarter revenues from continuing operations were $5.4 billion compared to $5.9 billion in the prior year's fourth quarter, a decrease of 8.6 percent. Retail Pharmacy Segment revenues were $4.0 billion and decreased 10.1 percent primarily as a result of the extra week in the prior year's fourth quarter and a decline in same store sales. Revenues in the Pharmacy Services Segment were $1.4 billion, down 4.3 percent, which was due to a decline in commercial business and changes in its composition of Medicare Part D membership.

Same store sales from Retail Pharmacy continuing operations for the quarter decreased 1.7 percent over the prior year, consisting of a 2.3 percent decrease in pharmacy sales and a 0.6 percent decrease in front-end sales. The company noted that the Pharmacy sales included an approximate 138 basis point negative impact from new generic introductions.

In the fourth quarter, the company relocated 6 stores and remodeled 38 stores, bringing the total number of wellness stores chainwide to 1,805. During the fourth quarter, the company sold 1,554 stores to Walgreens Boots Alliance and closed 19 stores, resulting in a total store count of 2,831 at the end of the fourth quarter.

Looking forward, Rite Aid said it expects sales to be between $21.7 billion and $22.1 billion in fiscal 2019 with same store sales expected to range from an increase of 0.0 percent to an increase of 1.0 percent over fiscal 2018. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between $615.0 million and $675.0 million. Adjusted net income per share is expected to be between $0.02 and $0.06.