UPDATE: Walgreen To Buy Online Retailer Drugstore.com For $429 Million
March 24 2011 - 10:39AM
Dow Jones News
Walgreen Co. (WAG) agreed to buy online retailer Drugstore.com
Inc. (DSCM) for about $429 million in cash, adding to the largest
U.S. drug retailer's online portfolio.
Shares of Drugstore.com, which has never posted a full-year
profit, more than doubled to $3.80 on record volume early Thursday,
matching the per-share offer price. Walgreen was off 0.2% to
$39.77. Drugstore.com last traded above the offer price in May; its
shares have fallen 53% in the past 12 months.
The offer represents a 112% premium over Wednesday's close. The
companies said the deal has an enterprise value of about $409
million.
Walgreen said it expects the acquisition to shave about 3 cents
a share off its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and another 3 cents
to 4 cents and 1 cent to 2 cents in fiscal 2012 and 2013,
respectively.
Walgreen expects to fund the acquisition with existing cash and,
subject to regulatory approval, sees it closing in June.
Drugstore.com's board unanimously backed the deal.
Drugstore.com, which operates its namesake website as well as
Beauty.com, SkinStore.com and VisionDirect.com, posted $456 million
in sales last year, making it the eighth-largest e-tailer in the
U.S., according to Internet Retailer magazine.
Walgreen completed its biggest acquisition ever less than a year
ago, buying New York drugstore chain Duane Reade in April for about
$620 million in cash and $480 million in assumed debt.
Walgreen spokesman Michael Polzin said the company is "on
schedule, on track" with the Duane Reade integration, which
includes 258 stores in the New York City area. "We are doing store
systems integrations right now and will be doing remodeling of the
stores," he said.
Tuesday, Walgreen posted fiscal second-quarter results above
analyst expectations. The company posted per-share earnings of 80
cents, up from 68 cents in the prior-year period. Both periods
included 2 cents a share in restructuring costs. Sales for the
quarter ended Feb. 28 increased 8.9% to $18.5 billion.
Earlier this month, Walgreen agreed to sell its pharmacy benefit
management business to Catalyst Health Solutions Inc. (CHSI) for
$525 million. That deal is expected to close in the coming
months.
-By Melissa Korn, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2271;
melissa.korn@dowjones.com
--Drew FitzGerald contributed to this article.
Drugstore (NASDAQ:DSCM)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Drugstore (NASDAQ:DSCM)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024