Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. $(WBA)$ shares are up 0.7% in premarket trades after the drugstore chain reported better-than-expected second-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings, boosted by an improvement in the company's healthcare business.

The Deerfield, Ill.-based had a loss of $2.853 billion, or $3.30 a share, for the quarter to Feb 28, narrower than the loss of $5.908 billion, or $6.85 a share, in the same period last year. On an adjusted basis, Walgreens had earnings of 63 cents a share, above the FactSet consensus estimate of 53 cents a share.

Sales rose to $38.588 billion, from $37.052 billion in the prior year's quarter, above the $37.971 billion FactSet consensus.

"Second quarter results reflect disciplined cost management and improvement in U.S. Healthcare, which were partially offset by weaker front-end results in U.S. Retail Pharmacy, while significant legal settlements resulted in continued negative free cash flow," said Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Tim Wentworth, in a statement." The company, he added, is still in the early stages of its turnaround plan.

Citing the roughly $10 billion buyout deal that will see Walgreens go private after nearly 100 years as a publicly traded company, the drugstore chain withdrew its fiscal 2025 guidance.

-James Rogers

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April 08, 2025 07:27 ET (11:27 GMT)

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