CVS Caremark Reports Record Fourth Quarter

CVS Caremark Corp. (Woonsocket, R.I.), the pharmacy and drugstore chain, announced record revenues, operating profit and earnings for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2008.

Net revenues for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2008, increased $2.2 billion to $24.1 billion, up from $21.9 billion during the same period last year. For the full year, total revenue increased 14.6 percent to a record $87.5 billion.

Same-store sales in the retail drugstore segment increased 4.5 percent for the year, while pharmacy same-store sales increased 4.8 percent and front-end same-store sales increased 3.6 percent.

“I'm really proud of what our team accomplished last year,” says Tom Ryan, CVS Caremark chairman, president and ceo. “We made significant strides in solidifying the culture across our enterprise and our colleagues are working together to take advantage of our strong competitive position.”
For the quarter, CVS Caremark opened 52 new retail pharmacy stores, acquired 529 Longs Drugs retail stores, closed six retail pharmacy stores and relocated seven others. The Company operates 6923 retail pharmacy stores, 58 specialty pharmacy stores, 19 specialty mail order pharmacies and seven mail order pharmacies in 44 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.