08 Feb 2010 —  CVS Caremark Announces Q4 2009 Results: Net Revenues Up 7.1%

CVS Caremark reported a 7.1% increase in total revenues for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2009. CVS reported a 14.5% increase in revenue for the pharmacy services segments and a 4.5% increase in revenue for the retail pharmacy segment during the fourth quarter.

Q4 2009 & Fiscal Year End Operating Highlights: Retail Pharmacy Segment

• Retail pharmacy segment sales increased 4.5% to USD 14.5 billion.
• Same store sales increased 4.9%.
• Front-end same store sales increased 0.3%.
• Pharmacy sales grew 6.0%, accounting for 66.8% of total sales.
• Pharmacy same store sales increased 7.3%, negatively impacted by 290 basis points (bp) due to recent generic introductions and positively impacted 270 bp due to Maintenance choice.
• Gross profit as a percentage of net revenues increased 80 bp at 31.2% year over year.
• Operating expenses as a percentage of net revenues were flat at 22.8%.
• Operating profit percentage decreased 80 bp to 8.4%.

Fiscal year-to-date revenues grew 13.0% to USD 55.4 billion.

• Same store sales increased 5.0%.
• Front-end same store sales grew 1.2%.
• Pharmacy sales grew 13.1%, accounting for 67.5% of total sales.
• Pharmacy same store sales grew 6.9%.
• Gross profit percentage decreased 10 bp to 30.0%.
• Operating expenses percentage grew 10 bp to 22.5%.
• Operating profit percentage decreased 20 bp to 7.5%.

Store Activity

During Q4 2009, CVS opened 23 new retail pharmacy stores; closed 6 retail pharmacy stores and 2 specialty pharmacy; and relocated 8 retail pharmacy stores. On December 31, 2009, CVS operated 7,025 retail pharmacy stores, 49 specialty pharmacy stores, 18 specialty mail-order pharmacies, and 6 mail-order pharmacies in 44 states and the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.