Walgreens pays $6.5bn for Boots stake

The American drug store chain Walgreens has agreed to buy a 45 percent stake in Alliance Boots, the European pharmacy retailer, for $6.7 billion, in a deal that could allow Walgreens to take full control of Alliance Boots by 2015.

Quick Take Walgreen reports flat revenues at $18.6 billion with net profit up about 11% to $756 million The company also announced a 10-year agreement with pharmacy services provider AmerisourceBergen Sales helped by growth in prescriptions filled mitigating the negative impact of growing generic drug introductions Front end sales take a hit despite the company launching more new format stores Growth in generic prescription drug introductions and the new agreement with AmerisourceBergen will further help the company’s growing margins The return of Express Scripts prescriptions and growth in ge

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(Reuters) - Walgreen Co's comparable sales fell more than expected in February, the second month that the la

By Trefis: The return of Express Scripts prescriptions and growth in generic prescription drugs dispensed saw the largest drugstore chain in the U.S. Walgreen (WAG) post a growth in profits in the quarter ending February. Fiscal 2013 second quarter net earnings were $756 million compared with net earnings of $683 million in the year ago quarter. Revenues from the quarter were flat at $18.6 billion.

Trefis submits: Walgreens (NYSE:WAG), the leading drugstore chain in the US, is expected to come out with its third quarter earnings on June 21st. Walgreens competes with the other leading pharmacy services provider CVS Caremark (NYSE:CVS).

TechCrunch submits: By Leena Rao