Walgreens April Sales Increase 5.5%

Walgreens WAG had April sales of $5.99 billion, an increase of 5.5 percent from $5.68 billion for the same month in 2010. Duane Reade stores, acquired in April 2010, contributed 0.7 percentage point to the total sales increase for the month. Total front-end sales increased 9.4 percent in April, including 1.3 percentage points from Duane Reade stores. Comparable store front-end sales increased 6.5 percent, benefiting from this year's later Easter, which fell on April 24 this year compared with April 4 last year. Customer traffic in comparable stores increased 2.3 percent, while basket size increased 4.2 percent.