Walgreens Boots Alliance announced on Thursday that it has paused to pay cash dividends to shareholders.
This change is brought to the struggle for the giants of the retail pharmacy based in Deerfield. Walgreens announced in October to shut 1,200 stores in the next three years, including Chicago. Walgreens has been reducing costs for many years, including Reof.
Walgreens stated in a Thursday news release, saying, “Management continues to evaluate and improve the capital distribution policy that matches the company’s wider long -term and long -term approach.”
Until now, Walgreens Boots Alliance and their predecessor, Walgreen Co., have paid a quarterly dividend to shareholders in the 368 consecutive quarters (1992).
The change is to improve the debt over time and to improve the finances of Walgreen by improving cash flow and improving cash flow. “The needs of the company’s cash in the next few years, including litigation and debt refinancing, were an important consideration as part of the decision to pause dividends,” Walgreens said in a release.
Walgreens had $ 265 million in the first quarter of this year, compared to the $ 67 million dollar in the same period of the previous year.
Under the previous CEO, Walgreens plans to enter 1,000 village clinics by 2027 and invest hundreds of millions of dollars on the primary care provider VillageMD. I was aiming to be a destination.
However, Walgreens has reversed the course of the plan and has been considering selling all or part of the VillageMD business by submission to the securities and trading committee in August.
The current CEO Timwentworth says that Walgreenes wants to focus on being a “retailer -led company.”
Walgreens has been struggling for many years, including refunds of drugs and related issues related to changes in consumer habits.
The company had a net loss in the most recent quarter, but some of the operating losses were related to the cost of store closure, and sales increased by 7.5 % in the quarterly of the same quarter of the previous year.
“Our turnaround takes time, but our early progress will strengthen our beliefs for sustainable retail pharmacy -led sales models,” said Wentworth. He said in the release.
John Boylan, a senior equity analyst of Edward Jones, is a memo to investors on Thursday, and Walgreens releases cash, repays debt, and pause dividends as a way to focus on correcting the business. It’s not surprising to choose.
“I think this is a cautious step to improve the cash flow and financial structure,” Jones wrote in a memo. “Overall, we believe that the conversion strategy of management looks healthy, but it takes time to expand and there is no risk in the very competitive drugstore industry.”
