Jean Coutu Group sales up 1.9% despite generic pressures

VARENNES, Québec  — The Jean Coutu Group on Friday posted a 1.9% increase in revenues to $576.8 million for the quarter ended Nov. 26.



“During  the  third  quarter,  network  retail  sales  and  front-end  sales  of  our  distribution centers  grew  strongly,  eloquently  reflecting  the  success  of  our  business  strategies  and  the  effectiveness  of  their  implementation,"  stated  François  Coutu,  president  and  CEO Jean Coutu Group. "We  will  continue to  make  the  necessary  efforts  to  enhance our offering to drive growth in retail sales and maintain our leadership.”



For the quarter ended Nov. 26, 2016, on a same-store basis, the PJC network's retail sales increased by 3.6%, pharmacy sales increased by 4.4% and front-end sales increased by 2.8%. Sales of non-prescription drugs, which represented 9% of total retail sales, increased by 2.8% compared with 3.9% for the corresponding period of fiscal year 2016.



Generic drugs reached 71.4% of prescriptions during the third quarter of fiscal year 2017 compared with 69.8% of prescriptions for the comparable period of the previous fiscal year. The increase in the number of generic drugs prescriptions with lower selling prices than brand name drugs had a deflationary impact on the pharmacy's retail sales.



For the third quarter of fiscal year 2017, the introduction of new generic drugs reduced pharmacy's retail sales growth by 0.7%. Furthermore, price reductions of generic drugs reduced retail sales growth by 0.3%.