Drugstore.com reports Q4 sales

BELLEVUE, Wash. Drugstore.com noted a near 25% spike in net sales for its fourth quarter, compared with the year-ago period.

For the three months ended Jan. 3, 2010, net sales totaled $117 million, up from $94 million in fourth quarter 2008. Drugstore.com also reported that its new customer base increased 48.5% to 603,000.

Drugstore.com, however,  said its adjusted EBITDA for the quarter totaled $3.5 million, a 36.7% drop from million last year. The online retailer also posted a widened net loss of $3.5 million from $2.4 million in the year-ago period, which includes $1.9 million of transaction related expenses and integration costs expected to be incurred in connection with the acquisition of Salu's Skinstore.com.

"We believe our strong financial results throughout 2009, and the pending acquisition of Skinstore.com, have even more firmly established our company as a clear leader in health and beauty online," said Drugstore.com chairman and CEO Dawn Lepore. "In the coming year, we will further leverage our unique market position and infrastructure, with increasing contributions from Skinstore.com and our key partnerships with Medco and Luxottica. With the continuing ramp-up of these initiatives, we are very optimistic about our growth prospects for 2010."