Longs earnings increase 33 percent

Longs Drug reported a 33 percent increase in earnings of $25.7 million for its second quarter and completed its exit from three Western states. Same-store sales inched up 1 percent and revenue jumped 3 percent to $1.27 billion for the three-month period that ended July 26.

Pharmacy same-store sales increased 1.8 percent for the quarter with pharmacy benefit service revenues increasing 4.7 percent to $79 million. "In addition to RX America’s growth, we made strong progress in our retail segment by aligning and upgrading our store base, increasing our self-distribution of front-end merchandise, installing supply chain system technology and improving our operations," said Longs CEO Warren Bryant.

During the quarter, Longs added eight new stores, remodeled 11 and closed 16. Those closings completed its exit from Washington, Oregon and Colorado where it had 23 stores. Longs said it had no long-term expansion plans for those states and left them to focus on core markets like California and Hawaii.