Rite Aid Appears to have Successfully Reversed December Sales Slump with January Increase

(NewsVisual, powered by IntellectSpace) -- Although Rite Aid Corp (NYSE: RAD) had a rocky December with poor sales figures, the company could be experiencing a turnaround, since it announced on Thursday morning a 2 percent increase in same-store sales over the prior-year four-week period that ended January 26, 2008, the company reported in a press release. 

The newly acquired Brooks Eckerd stores are excluded from the same-store calculations, the company said.

While total drugstore sales for the period amounted to $1.99 billion, the main driver for those numbers was prescription revenue, which comprised 68.9 percent of drugstore sales.

In terms of year-to-date sales for the 47-week period that ended on January 26, 2008, the company also said that same-store sales increased 1.2 percent, with a 1.7 percent increase in same-store pharmacy sales and a 0.5 percent increase in same-store front-end sales.

The markets appeared to be greeting the company’s announcement favorably.  The share price was up slightly for the previous close of $2.72 to $2.84 in mid-morning trading (10:38am ET).

NewsVisual created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map that illustrates the business connections among Rite Aid’s Board for Directors.

The Knowledge Map shows that several of the company’s Directors have strong retail-industry connections, which they can draw from in order to advise its Management Team.  The following individuals have the strongest board room connections in the retail industry:

Directors Robert G. Miller and Philip G. Satre both also serve on the board of Nordstrom, Inc; Director Marcy Syms also serves as the CEO and as a Director for Syms Corp; Director George G. Golleher is also on the board of Linen n Things; and Director Robert A. Mariano is the CEO/Chairman of Roundy’s Supermarkets, Inc.

(Note: the information contained and presented in Knowledge Maps is public information from the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States of America).

Click here or copy this link into your Internet Explorer browser for an interactive version of this IntellectSpace Knowledge Map: http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=902cedcf-b5c8-4b45-9d30-b6da537f7d43