Walgreens Mulls Sale of VillageMD

By Sabela Ojea

Walgreens Boots Alliance is reviewing its majority investment in Village Practice Management due to the high costs that come with the unprofitable business.

The pharmacy chain is considering options that include a sale of all or part of the VillageMD businesses, a possible restructuring and other strategic opportunities, the company said on Wednesday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

In June, Chief Executive Timothy Wentworth told analysts that after the company's recent actions to right-size VillageMD's footprint, the business was on a clearer path to profitability.

The company also said that earlier this month the parties entered into a forbearance agreement under which Walgreens agreed to not exercise remedies against VillageMD. The deal came four days after the two sides acknowledged the existence of defaults under the VillageMD secured loan.

In the first nine months of fiscal 2024, Walgreens operating loss roughly doubled to $13.1 billion due to a $12.4 billion non-cash impairment charge related to VillageMD goodwill, which resulted in a $5.8 billion charge attributable to Walgreens.

Write to Sabela Ojea at sabela.ojea@wsj.com; @sabelaojeaguix

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 07, 2024 18:29 ET (22:29 GMT)

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