CVS Corporation April Sales Increase 7%.Business Editors WOONSOCKET, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 11, 2004 CVS (1) (Concurrent Versions System) A version control system for Unix that was initially developed as a series of shell scripts in the mid-1980s. CVS maintains the changes between one source code version and another and stores all the changes in one file. Corporation (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : CVS) today announced that total sales for the four-week period ended May 1, 2004 increased 7.0% to $2.12 billion, compared to $1.98 billion in the prior year period. Same store sales Same Store Sales A statistic used in retail industry analysis. It compares sales of stores that have been open for a year or more. Notes: This statistic allows investors to determine what portion of new sales has come from sales growth and what portion from the opening of (sales from stores open more than one year) for the four weeks ended May 1, 2004 increased 5.4% over the prior year period. Pharmacy same store sales increased 7.3%, while front-end same store sales increased 1.4%. Total pharmacy sales represented 69.7% of total company sales in April. As expected, April sales were modestly impacted by an earlier Easter (April 11th this year versus April 20th last year), which shifted more holiday sales into March. Same store sales for the combined months of March and April 2004 increased 6.7%, while pharmacy same store sales increased 8.3% and front-end same store sales increased 3.2%. Year-to-date, total sales for the seventeen-week period ended May 1, 2004, increased 7.8% to $8.93 billion, compared to $8.29 billion in 2003. Same store sales for the seventeen-week period increased 6.1% over the prior year period. Pharmacy same store sales increased 8.1%, while front-end same store sales increased 1.9%. As of May 1, 2004, CVS operated 4,191 retail and specialty pharmacy stores in 32 states and the District of Columbia District of Columbia, federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). . On April 5, 2004, the Company announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement under which it would acquire 1,260 Eckerd drug stores, located mainly in the southern United States The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States. , in addition to Eckerd Health Services health services Managed care The benefits covered under a health contract , which includes Eckerd's mail order and pharmacy benefit management A Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) is a third party administrator of prescription drug programs. They are primarily responsible for processing and paying prescription drug claims. businesses. The transaction is subject to review under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Often used in risk arbitrage. Antitrust act administered by U.S. Department of Justice and the FTC that requires an investor to file a form with the government before he acquires an economic interest in the lesser amount of $15 million or 15% of the , as well as other customary closing conditions, and is expected to close in June of 2004. With more than 40 years of dynamic growth in the retail pharmacy industry, CVS is committed to being the easiest pharmacy retailer for customers to use. CVS has created innovative approaches to serve the healthcare needs of all customers through its over 4,100 CVS/pharmacy(R) stores, its online pharmacy; CVS.com(R) and its pharmacy benefit management and specialty pharmacy subsidiary, PharmaCare Management Services. General information about CVS is available through the Investor Relations portion of the Company's website at http://investor.cvs.com. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. For these statements, the Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) implemented several significant substantive changes affecting certain cases brought under the federal securities laws, including changes related to pleading, discovery, liability, class representation and awards fees and of 1995. The Company strongly recommends that you become familiar with the specific risks and uncertainties outlined under the caption "Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements" in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the annual period ended January 3, 2004. |
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