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from DealZone:
Deals wrap: Walgreen prescribes drugstore.com buy
Walgreen plans to buy drugstore.com for $429 million, expanding the online presence of the world's largest drugstore chain. Drugstore.com shareholders will receive $3.80 a share, which is more than double the company's closing stock price on Wednesday.
A sale of the British government's $107 billion stake in Lloyds Banking Group and RBS may start next year, Bloomberg said, citing four people familiar with the matter.
Geothermal energy is likely to attract interest as investors rethink the outlook for nuclear power following the crisis in Japan, writes Leonora Walet and Tessa Dunlop. Japan sits on enough untapped geothermal power to replace all of its planned nuclear stations over the next decade, but the quake-prone country's only plan to harness that energy's potential is to develop hot springs.
Cheap valuations along with their respectable free cash flow and extensive real estate assets have made discount and dollar stores attractive targets for companies and private equity firms, and it looks like Wall Street can wring a few billion dollars more out of them, writes NR Sethuraman.
from Shop Talk:
Check Out Line: Have a flu shot, spend some more
Check out the impact of signs the U.S. flu season may be weaker this year.
Drug stores such as Walgreen, CVS and Rite Aid are offering flu shots earlier and more conveniently to keep sales from slumping with no expected H1N1 outbreak this year along the lines of last year.
Last year, consumers came for flu shots and bought other items as well, but those related sales could suffer this year. Walgreen, for example, said lower demand for flu-related prescriptions cut 0.3 percentage point from its same-store sales growth in August.
from Shop Talk:
Check Out Line: Walgreen, CVS back together
Check out the happy ending to the fight between CVS Caremark and Walgreen over reimbursements for drug prescriptions.
The two drugstore chains left their differences behind and announced a new "multi-year" deal, salvaging a relationship worth billions of dollars.
from Shop Talk:
Walgreen’s shiny new purchase
Walgreen officially owns New York's Duane Reade drugstore chain as of Friday, less than two months after the deal was announced. Walgreen, which got its start in Chicago and is based in a nearby Illinois suburb, is now the biggest drugstore operator in New York City after adding 258 Duane Reade stores, two distribution centers and a corporate office to its 70 stores in the area.
A small percentage of Duane Reade's stores are rather snazzy, some new and others renovated, and stand out compared to other drugstores, including Walgreens stores, in the Big Apple. Those makeovers and Duane Reade's strong push into private label products were some of what attract Walgreen, which is working on its own store upgrades. (But there are still dozens of Duane Reade stores that have yet to get a makeover.)
from Shop Talk:
Check Out Line: Rising sales at Walgreen
Check out the higher sales at Walgreen stores open at least a year.
The largest U.S. drugstore chain said March sales at locations open at least a year rose 2.3 percent thanks to an earlier Easter holiday that drove demand for candy and other merchandise. Walgreen also said an extra weekday boosted sales of prescription medications.
March 2010 had an extra weekday and one less weekend than the previous year, and consumers tend to fill more prescriptions on weekdays.
from DealZone:
DealZone Daily
U.S. drugstore operator Walgreen is to buy rival Duane Reed for $618 million from private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, giving the company the market lead in New York. The acquisition brings the company 257 new stores in the city and has prompted analysts to think that struggling chain Rite Aid might make an attractive target for Walgreen rival CVS Caremark as it looks to catch up.
Britain's Babcock International has increased a proposed offer to buy defence firm VT Group to as much as 1.29 billion pounds, but its advances have again been rejected.
from DealZone:
Walgreen doubles its presence in Times Square
Walgreen's deal to purchase privately held Duane Reade for $618 million gives it 257 new retail stores in the New York City area and a double presence in New York's Times Square.
"We like their footprint, how it matches up with us," Walgreen Chief Executive Greg Wasson said of Duane Reade in a Reuters interview. "(It) gives us a leading presence in Manhattan as well as supplements what we have in the boroughs in New York."
from Shop Talk:
Check Out Line: Power plays in the air
Check out the power plays going on in the consumer world.
Walgreen said it will buy Duane Reed for $618 million in cash, catapulting the largest U.S. drugstore operator into the top spot in the New York City area. The deal price also includes the assumption of $457 million in debt.
Duane Reed is owned by private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners and operates 257 drugstores in the New York metropolitan area. Duane Reade will continue to operate under its brand name, and Walgreen expects to retain the employees at its stores, pharmacies and distribution centers.
from Shop Talk:
Check Out Line: Walgreen sales catch a cold
Check out a dose of bad medicine for Walgreen.
Analysts had expected the No. 1 U.S. drugstore chain operator to post a 2.2 percent increase in same-store sales. But the company instead posted a surprise 1.1 percent drop.
Among factors that hurt the company were a calendar shift. This January had one less weekday in it than last year. That might not seem like a big deal, but Walgreen fills more prescriptions during the week so the shift cut 1.3 percentage points from the same-store sales increase.
Pharmacy same-store sales fell 1.2 percent, a decline made worse by the fact that some of those sales have were in the form of H1N1 flu shots, a one-time item.
from Shop Talk:
Check Out Line: Walgreen sales plenty to sneeze at
Check out the sickly same-store sales at Walgreen.
Same-store sales of general merchandise fell 3.1 percent, with the company saying a decision to stock fewer seasonal items caused much of then drop.
Walgreen, like most retailers, had to sharply discount seasonal items in the teeth of the recession last year.
