Fred’s Pharmacy's sales drop in December

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Fred’s Pharmacy reported total sales for the five-week fiscal month of December ended Dec. 31 decreased 3.9% year over year to $222.9 million. Comparable store sales for the month declined 3.4%, compared with an increase of 2.4% in the prior year period.

Fred’s Pharmacy’s total sales for the year-to-date period decreased 0.8% to $1.978 billion versus $1.994 billion for the same period last year. On a comparable store basis, year-to-date sales declined 2.0% versus an increase of 1.5% for the year-earlier period.

"Our pharmacy department saw a 2% increase in comparable prescription growth in the current month, when adjusted for 90 days' scripts,” said CEO Michael Bloom. “The company also reported positive comparable sales in health and beauty along with key holiday categories, which posted strong year-over-year growth. However, this wasn't enough to completely overcome headwinds related to the impact of reduced SNAP benefits, competitive promotional activity and unusually warm weather, which had a negative influence on seasonal categories. Looking more broadly at our business, we believe the key marketing and merchandising initiatives we have implemented will drive future sales, traffic and profits, and represent a solid strategic response to the near-term challenges we are currently experiencing. Between the launch of Category Management University, our robust analytics tools that allow us to better track consumer behavior, and numerous other strategies aimed at increasing sales, we remain confident in Fred's long-term prospects."

Fred's Pharmacy and subsidiaries currently operate 647 discount general merchandise stores and three specialty pharmacy-only locations in 15 states in the southeastern United States. Included in the store count are 18 franchised locations. Also, there are 370 full service pharmacy departments located within Fred's stores, including four franchised locations. Fred’s also plans to acquire 865 divested stores from Rite Aid, should the Walgreens-Rite Aid merger be approved by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.