The Walgreens brand on the entrance of a retailer, July 14, 2021, in Cambridge, Mass.

Charles Krupa/AP

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Charles Krupa/AP

An enormous opioid settlement dragged Walgreens to a $3.7 billion loss in its fiscal first quarter, however the drugstore chain nonetheless beat Wall Road forecasts.

The corporate additionally reaffirmed its earnings forecast for the brand new 12 months.

Walgreens mentioned Thursday that it recorded a $5.2 billion, after-tax cost within the quarter that ended Nov. 30 for opioid-related litigation.

Walgreens and rival CVS Well being Corp. finalized final month a settlement with state and native governments to resolve lawsuits associated to opioid abuse. Opioids have been linked to greater than 500,000 deaths within the U.S. prior to now 20 years.

Drugstores have been topic to claims that they need to have realized they have been filling too many opioid prescriptions.

Not counting that cost, Walgreens adjusted earnings totaled $1.16 per share within the quarter. Gross sales slipped lower than 2% to $33.4 billion.

Analysts count on earnings of $1.14 per share on $32.89 billion in gross sales, in response to FactSet.

Walgreens stays “firmly within the black” when not counting the authorized cost, famous Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. runs a community of round 13,000 drugstores globally. Most of its places are in the USA. It is shops even have grow to be a rising supply for care.

The corporate is working with VillageMD to open major care practices subsequent to some places with the concept that drugstores and physician workplaces work collectively to assist preserve sufferers wholesome. However drugstores are nonetheless its essential enterprise.

Gross sales from Walgreens’ U.S. pharmacies slid 3% to $27.2 billion in comparison with final 12 months’s quarter. A rush of COVID-19 vaccinations and testing helped outcomes final 12 months, and forex trade charges damage within the latest quarter.

Sturdy gross sales of cough, chilly and flu merchandise helped in the newest quarter, the corporate mentioned.

Walgreens’ growing U.S. well being care enterprise introduced in first-quarter gross sales of $989 million after totaling $51 million a 12 months in the past.

Walgreens additionally mentioned Thursday it nonetheless expects adjusted earnings to vary between $4.45 and $4.65 per share in its new fiscal 12 months. That is the identical forecast the corporate specified by October.

FactSet says analysts count on $4.51 per share.

Shares of Deerfield, Illinois-based Walgreens slipped almost 3% to $36.42 in early buying and selling Thursday.

The value of Walgreens’ inventory tumbled about 28% final 12 months. That tripled the almost 9% decline of the Dow Jones Industrial Common, of which Walgreens is a element.