Editor’s note: The following information was released Thursday by the company which operates, among its brands and locations, Walgreens stores in the U.S. While the company has announced plans to close a number of stores, specific stores slated for such closures, as of Thursday’s release, have not been identified. 

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., the company which operates Walgreens stores across the U.S., released fiscal 2024 “third quarter financial highlights,” along with a press release titled: “Lowering Guidance to Continue Challenging Environment; Provides Strategic Update.”

The company reports that its 2024 third quarter ended May 31.

According to its website, the company operates some 12,500 locations across the U.S., Europe and Latin America, which employ “more than 331,000 team members.”

The company operates under several consumer brands, including Walgreens, Boots, Duane Reade, the No7 Beauty Company, and Benavides in Mexico. 

Walgreens pharmacies are found in Whitewater and Fort Atkinson.

While the Whitewater store posted a “temporary closure” sign in its window on Wednesday, a store employee on Thursday said that the store itself was not closed. The pharmacy closed because a pharmacist was not available. While on Thursday the store’s Facebook page continued to state that the store was temporarily closed, the employee confirmed that the store is open. 

Within Thursday’s press release, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., reported “Adjusted EPS (earnings per share) was $0.63, down 36.6 percent on a constant currency basis compared to the year-ago quarter, including a $0.24 impact from lower sale-leaseback gains, a challenging U.S. retail environment, and recent pharmacy industry trends.

Within the release, the company outlined several strategies, including, under a subhead of “fiscal 2024 guidance,” the release read, “lowering fiscal 2024 adjusted guidance to $2.80 to $2.95 reflecting challenging pharmacy industry trends and worse-than-expected U.S. consumer environment.”

Under a subhead of “update on strategic review,” the document read: “Finalizing significant multiyear footprint optimization program to close certain underperforming U.S. stores.”

A list of such locations was not provided within the document.

In addition, the release outlined strategic opportunities as follows:

• Launching U.S. Retail Pharmacy action plan to invest in and deliver an improved customer and patient experience across channels.

• Aligning U.S. Pharmacy and Healthcare organizations for enhanced go-to-market capabilities.

• Simplifying and focusing the U.S. Healthcare portfolio.

The company’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Wentworth, was quoted within the release as saying: ”We continue to face a difficult operating environment, including persistent pressures on the U.S. consumer and the impact of recent marketplace dynamics which have eroded pharmacy margins. Our results and outlook reflect these headwinds, despite solid performance in both our International and U.S. Healthcare segments.

“Informed by our strategic review, we are focused on improving our core business: retail pharmacy, which is central to the future of healthcare. We are addressing critical issues with urgency and working to unlock opportunities for growth. Many of these actions will take time, but I am confident that we have the right team and the right strategy to lead a business turnaround for the Walgreens that our customers and patients need.”

The company additionally shared an “overview of fiscal 2024 year-to-date results,” noting that “operating loss in the first nine months of fiscal 2024 was $13.1 billion compared to an operating loss of $6.4 billion in the year-ago period, an increase in operating loss of $6.7 billion.”

Further, the release stated: “Net loss for the first nine months of fiscal 2024 was $5.6 billion compared to a net loss of $2.9 billion in the year-ago period, an increase in net loss of $2.7 billion,” and “Loss per share for the first nine months of fiscal 2024 was $6.53 compared to a loss per share of $3.36 in the year-ago period, an increase in loss per share of $3.17.”

The full fiscal 2024 third-quarter report, as released Thursday by the company, is here: https://www.walgreensbootsalliance.com/news-media/press-releases/2024/walgreens-boots-alliance-reports-fiscal-2024-third-quarter-results.