In addition, the uncertain environment and the reticence of many customers are still making themselves felt, the company Walgreens Boots Alliance, which is listed in the US leading index Dow Jones 30 Industrial, announced on Tuesday in Deerfield. The board of directors cut its profit forecasts for the year due to the continuing challenging environment and at the same time announced tougher austerity measures.
The news was badly received on the financial market: the share, which had been under pressure for some time, fell by almost nine percent to $ 28.87 before the market. This could drop its price to a record low in regular trading. RBC analyst Ben Hendrix spoke of missed expectations in the wake of a weak business with vaccinations and tests related to COVID. According to Evercore expert Elizabeth Anderson, the unexpectedly weak pharmacy business in the USA was the main reason for the difficult quarter.
According to management’s new forecast, adjusted earnings per share for the 2022/23 fiscal year, which runs until the end of August, should now fall to between $4.00 and $4.05. The management around boss Rosalind Brewer had previously targeted 4.45 to 4.65 dollars. In the third business quarter to the end of May, Walgreens Boots Alliance was able to increase its value by a good 3 percent to 1 dollar compared to the previous year, despite the weak Covid business. However, this was less than what analysts had expected.
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Including all special effects, the group had to cope with a drop in profits of almost 60 percent. Among other things, impairments in connection with licenses in Great Britain had a negative impact.
As a result, despite an increase in sales of almost 9 percent to 35.4 billion dollars (around 32.5 billion euros), the group was even more in the red in its operating business than a year ago. Ultimately, the sale of its remaining shares in drug wholesaler AmerisourceBergen and infusion specialist Option Care Health secured a net gain of $118 million. A year earlier, however, the chain had earned almost two-and-a-half times as much, at $289 million.
CEO Brewer is now sharpening the red pencil and raising the target for the current austerity program: by 2024, the costs are to go down by a total of $4.1 billion instead of the previously planned $3.5 billion. The group will take immediate action, it said. In this way, the company should once again achieve sustained earnings growth in day-to-day business in the coming year.
Walgreens Boots Alliance sharesprofit warning collapsed into the pharmacy chain. The shares fell in early trading to their lowest level since Walgreens acquired Alliance Boots in late 2014. They ended up closing 9.34 percent lower on the NXSE at $28.64, clearly trailing the Dow Jones 30 Industrial . With a minus of 23 percent, they are also the weakest Dow value so far this year.
RBC analyst Ben Hendrix spoke of missed expectations in the wake of a weak business with vaccinations and tests related to Covid. According to Evercore expert Elizabeth Anderson, the pharmacy business in the USA was the main reason for the weak quarterly results.
DEERFIELD (dpa-AFX)
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