Comparable Q1 pharmacy sales up 10.1% for Jean Coutu

VARENNES, Quebec — The Jean Coutu Group on Tuesday reported $580.6 million in revenues for the first quarter ended June 3, representing an increase of 3.7% that was attriubuted to overall market growth by the Canadian retailer.



"During the first quarter, we continued to implement our buiness plan efficiently, which resulted in a significant increase in retail sales despite an ongoing competitive environment," stated Francois Coutu, president and CEO Jean Coutu. "The development of dynamic initiatives will continue to be our priority over the next few quarters in order to contribute to the increase of retail sales and thus continue our growth and maintain our leadership."



On a same-store basis, the PJC network realized a 6.8% lift in retail sales, representing growth of 10.1% in comparable sales across its pharmacy operations and a 1.4% lift in same-store front-end sales. Sales of nonprescription drugs, which represented 8.5% of total retail sales, increased by 2.2%.



Generic drugs reached 71.6% of prescriptions during the first quarter, compared to 70.7% for the comparable period last year. The increase in the number of generic drugs had a deflationary impact on the pharmacy's retail sales, Jean Coutu reported. For the first quarter, new generic drugs reduced pharmacy's retail sales by 0.6%, and price reductions of generic drugs reduced retail sales growth by an additional 0.5%.