Sixth graph, first sentence of release should read: Comparable front-end sales were helped by about 1.0 percentage point by product cost increases in advance of the federal cigarette excise tax increase.

The corrected release reads:

Walgreens March Sales Increase 6.8 Percent

Walgreens (NYSE:WAG) (NASDAQ:WAG) had March sales of $5,458,900,000, an increase of 6.8 percent from $5,109,698,000 for the same month in 2008. Sales in comparable stores (those open at least a year) rose 1.5 percent, while comparable store front-end sales decreased 5.6 percent.

March sales were hurt by last year's March Easter compared with an April Easter this year. The company will report sales for the combined months of March and April 2009 next month.

March pharmacy sales increased 10.2 percent, while comparable pharmacy sales increased 5.7 percent. Comparable pharmacy sales were negatively impacted by 2.8 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months. Total prescriptions filled at comparable stores increased 4.9 percent in March. Pharmacy sales accounted for 66.6 percent of total sales for the month.

Calendar day shifts had a positive impact on the month, as pharmacy patients fill more prescriptions during the week than on weekends. This year, March had one more weekday compared to March 2008. Calendar shifts positively impacted total comparable store sales by 1.3 percentage points, comparable pharmacy sales by 1.9 percentage points and prescriptions filled in comparable stores by 2.0 percentage points.

Total prescriptions filled at comparable stores were negatively impacted by 2.1 percentage points due to more patients filling 90-day versus 30-day prescriptions.

Comparable front-end sales were helped by about 1.0 percentage point by product cost increases in advance of the federal cigarette excise tax increase.

Calendar year-to-date sales were $15,815,077,000, an increase of 5.5 percent from $14,990,512,000, in 2008.

Fiscal 2009 year-to-date sales for the seven months were $36,880,637,000 up 6.8 percent from $34,531,224,000. Comparable store sales for the fiscal year to date increased 1.5 percent.

Walgreens opened 69 drugstores during March, including 11 relocations.

At March 31, Walgreens operated 7,233 locations in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. That includes 6,736 drugstores, 573 more than a year ago. The company also operates worksite health centers, home care facilities and specialty, institutional and mail service pharmacies. Its Take Care Health Systems subsidiary manages 713 in-store convenient care clinics and worksite health and wellness centers. Franchisees of Option Care, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Walgreens, are not included in Walgreens location or store count.

Please note: Monthly sales numbers are preliminary and unaudited. Comparable stores are defined as those drugstore locations open for at least 12 consecutive months without closure for seven or more consecutive days and without a major remodel or a natural disaster in the past 12 months. Relocated and acquired stores are not included as comparable stores for the first 12 months after the relocation or acquisition.

Source
Walgreens