Latest news with #SanPablo
Forbes
26-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Walgreens Outlook Improves As Buyout Faces Shareholder Vote Next Month
News that Walgreens Boots Alliance quarterly loss was better than expected and pharmacy sales were ... More rising bodes well for a financial turnaround under new ownership, analysts said after the company's June 26, 2025 earnings report. In this photo is a sign outside a Walgreens store in San Pablo, California, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg News that Walgreens Boots Alliance quarterly loss was better than expected and pharmacy sales are rising bodes well for a financial turnaround under new ownership. Under future owner Sycamore Partners, analysts expect cost-cutting to escalate once the private equity firm's $10 billion purchase of Walgreens is complete before the end of this calendar year. One of the first major hurdles is a vote of shareholders at a special meeting on July 11. But there's been no serious opposition that has emerged to the purchase by Sycamore, which is paying $11.45 per share — 29% above the December stock price. Sycamore also agreed to 'one non-transferable right" to receive up to $3 in cash per Walgreens share 'from the future monetization of WBA's debt and equity interests in VillageMD, which includes the Village Medical, Summit Health and CityMD businesses,' the companies said of Walgreens' primary care businesses. Walgreens reported a net loss of $175 million, or 20 cents a share, in the company's fiscal third quarter ended May 31 compared to net income of $344 million, or 40 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Total sales rose 7% to $39 billion in its third quarter. Walgreens chief executive officer Tim Wentworth highlighted what he called 'continued improvement' in the company's U.S. Healthcare segment, that includes Village Medical, Summit and CityMD. The U.S. healthcare segment, which reported $2.1 billion in third quarter sales, reported an operating loss of $64 million, which was much improved over the operating loss of $220 million in the year-ago quarter, 'reflecting lower acquisition-related amortization and higher contributions from VillageMD risk-based business,' Walgreens said. Meanwhile, analysts were impressed with Walgreens ability to produce 'positive free cash flow in the quarter, a key positive given recent negative free cash flow trends,' Ann Hynes and colleagues at Mizuho Securities USA wrote in a report Thursday. 'WBA continues to expect Sycamore Partner's acquisition of the company to close in either the third of fourth quarter of calendar year 2025.' The Sycamore deal comes after Walgreens, which had a market value of more than $100 billion a decade ago, undertook the failed VillageMD in-store clinic rollout that led it to close hundreds of stores to reduce debt and stem financial losses. Wentworth said Walgreens is benefiting from 'cost savings initiatives' that include closing underperforming stores. Walgreens is on pace to meet its goal of closing 1,200 stores by its fiscal 2027. The company, which operates about 8,000 U.S. stores, has closed a little more than 400 stores in the first nine months of its fiscal year ended May 31 and said it would close 500 in this fiscal year. Walgreens third quarter results were much improved over its second quarter when the company in March reported a $2.8 billion loss thanks to a large impairment charge related to its struggling doctor-staffed clinic investment in VillageMD. Analysts who follow Walgreens see the move to private ownership as another plus because the company and a stock price attached to public ownership will no longer be subject to the whims of Wall Street. 'By making the move to go private, Walgreens will have the time for reinvention, something not possible as a public company chasing quarterly numbers," said Dave Mayer, Senior Partner at the brand consultancy Lippincott.
Forbes
26-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Walgreens Reports Narrower Than Expected Loss Ahead Of Takeover
Walgreens Boots Alliance Thursday reported a narrower-than-expected $178 million loss in its third ... More quarter as the struggling pharmacy chain nears the end of its long run as a publicly traded company, the drugstore chain said June 26,. 2025. In this photo is an aerial view of a sign posted outside of a Walgreens store on January 04, 2024 in San Pablo, California. (Photo by) Walgreens Boots Alliance Thursday reported a narrower-than-expected $178 million loss in its third quarter as the struggling pharmacy chain nears the end of its long run as a publicly traded company. Walgreens fiscal third quarter results for the period ending May 31 of this year come as the company works on completing its sale to the investment firm Sycamore Partners for more than $10 billion. That deal, announced in early March, faces a special meeting of shareholders on July 11 to vote on approving the sale Though sales rose 7% to $39 billion, the company lost $175 million, 'a decrease of $519 million compared to net earnings of $344 million' in the year-ago period thanks largely to 'prior year after-tax gains related to fair value adjustments on variable prepaid forward derivatives and a partial sale of the company's equity method investment in Cencora, and higher tax expense in the current quarter.' Cencora is the large drug distributor that Walgreens owns a minority stake in and has been gradually selling. The Sycamore deal, which pays $11.45 per share — 29% above the December stock price — comes after years of Walgreens' pharmacy closings and plummeting stock in part due to a disastrous rollout of clinics attached to stores. Walgreens chief executive officer Tim Wentworth said third quarter results 'reflect continued improvement in our U.S. Healthcare segment and benefits from our cost savings initiatives, while we continued to see weakness in our U.S. front-end sales.' Walgreens said U.S. Retail Pharmacy segment sales rose nearly 8% to $39.7 billion compared to the year-ago quarter. Within that business, however, retail sales decreased 5% and that spilled onto adjusted operating income which decreased 30% to to $350 million from $501 million in the year-ago quarter. 'We remain focused on our turnaround plan, which will require time, disciplined focus and a balanced approach to manage future cash needs with investments necessary to navigate an evolving pharmacy and retail environment,' Wentworth said. Sycamore, a private equity firm specializing in consumer, distribution and retail-related investments, also agreed to 'one non-transferable right" to receive up to $3 in cash per Walgreens Boots Alliance share 'from the future monetization of WBA's debt and equity interests in VillageMD, which includes the Village Medical, Summit Health and CityMD businesses,' the companies said of Walgreens' primary care businesses. The total value of the deal, including the $10 billion in equity value, is more than $23 billion when debt and other items are included, the companies said. Walgreens third quarter results were much improved over its second quarter when the company in March reported a $2.8 billion loss thanks to a large impairment charge related to its struggling doctor-staffed clinic investment in VillageMD. The Sycamore deal comes after Walgreens, which had a market value of more than $100 billion a decade ago, undertook the failed VillageMD in-store clinic rollout that led it to close hundreds of stores to reduce debt and stem financial losses. Under former chief executive Roz Brewer, Walgreens spent billions of dollars investing in and operating physician-staffed clinic operator VillageMD. Walgreens invested more than $6 billion in VillageMD under Brewer to take a controlling stake, but the company has already scaled back dramatically on the expansion of doctor practices and clinics the company opened. In 2020, Walgreens said it planned to open 500 to 700 'Village Medical at Walgreens' physician-led primary care clinics in more than 30 U.S. markets over five years, with the 'intent to build hundreds more thereafter.'
CBS News
01-06-2025
- Climate
- CBS News
Contra Costa fire captain explains how fire conditions vary across county
On Saturday, temperatures in some inland areas were forecast to hit triple digits. The hot weather comes on the heels of a government report last week that said the state's above-average snowpack is melting at a record-breaking pace. It's raising the possibility of drought and an early start to the wildfire season. Contra Costa County has one of the most diverse land masses in the Bay Area. So, when things start heating up, it can present significantly different timelines when it comes to wildfire. On a hill above San Pablo, overlooking San Francisco Bay, Contra Costa Fire Captain George Laing walked along a path, surveying the golden grasses swaying in the wind. "So, if you grab this grass, this is dry," he said, pulling up a handful of the arid weeds. "You can hear it's dry, it feels dry except for there's a little bit of surface moisture on it because it's kind of humid out here." Laing can tell fire danger simply by feeling the grass. In San Pablo, the temperature was in the high 70s with an ocean breeze that made it feel even cooler. Laing said fire could still happen there, but it would move a lot slower. "But the further east you go in our jurisdiction, the more sustained the warmer conditions are and the drier conditions are," he said. "So, you'll see areas that are completely dry and ready to go." One of those areas would be Brentwood on the eastern edge of the county. There, the temperature was hovering near 100 degrees and at the Three Nunn's produce farm, Ana Valencia's lemonade stand was doing booming business. "For sure," she said. "Yeah, a lot more. I think double what I usually sell because everybody's trying to stay cool." Just across from the farm, the hillside is blackened, the scene of a recent grassfire that, thankfully, was contained to a few acres. But in Brentwood, they know that 99 degrees is not the end of the hot weather. "No. Way hotter than this. It's just starting," said Valencia. "So, it's going to get worse, I know it's coming. This is just the start of it." But did the heat ever make her worry about wildfire? "Oh, for sure, 100%," she said. "Because there's a bunch of grass out here and the majority of it, some of it, is dry. And there's a bunch of land here, so it can just catch on really quick." "What you need to have fire is for all the moisture to burn off the cellulose material," explained Laing. "Once that ignites, then you have a fire. The sooner the moisture evaporates from the grass, the more readily it ignites." With a territory that stretches from the cool of the Bay to the heat of Brentwood, Con Fire's "fire season" can begin as early as May in the east, to as late as July or August nearer the Bay. But Laing said there is no place that is immune to the danger. "This is the prevailing wind. This is coming off the Bay," he said. "It's cool, it's moist, you can still see there's a little bit of the marine layer over there. It's when the winds come from the other direction, and they're dry and they're hot. And the very strong winds can actually blow down these slopes and create significant problems for firefighters because it's not something that you would normally expect." These days, no one is sure what to expect in the way of weather. But the science remains clear. Hot weather dries out the grasses, opening the door for the fires to come.
