Walgreens: the Corporate Financial Decision Making Analysis Essay

The corporate name of the Walgreens drugstore chain is Walgreens Co, as identified on Form 10-5 (SEC Filing). The company is traded in the NYSE under the ticker symbol ‘WAG’.

Nevertheless, the use of the Optimal Capital Structure (OCS) is the right techniques to be used in order to acquire the right combination of debt and equity that can maximize the

At present Walgreens appears to be operating in a Horizontal Integration strategy demonstrated through its merger with Boots Alliance and a reported inquiry to purchase Rite-Aid. (Nichols, 2015) Market Penetration is another strategy which Walgreens is presently operating within. Their change in strategy to focus on the customer and improve customer service and relationships is one strategy that is being used to penetrate a market with vast competition that needs a differentiator to remain on top.

Walgreens offers a variety of products and services. Based on the economic times, price increases due to increase in wages,

The Walgreens chain began in 1901, with a drug store on the corner of Bowen Ave and Cottage Grove, Chicago, Illinois, United States owned by Galesburg native Charles R. Walgreen, Sr.[6] By 1915, there were five Walgreen drugstores. He added several improvements to the stores such as soda fountains and luncheon service. He also began to make his own line of drug products and was then able to control the quality of the items and sell them at lower prices. By 1916, 19 stores were in operation, all in Chicago. And in that same year, all the stores were consolidated under Walgreen Co. The 1920s was a very successful decade for Walgreens. In 1921, the company opened stores

Knowing the importance of a strategic vision, every company undertakes a complete analysis periodically. In order to create a strategic plan the parties involved must know every aspect of the industry and the company at hand. The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the retail drugstore industry and then focus on Walgreens, the industry leader in terms of sales. As part of the in-depth analysis of Walgreens, its major competitors will also be described and analyzed. The retail drugstore industry consists of all those stores that contain a pharmacy and sell prescription drugs. It also includes businesses that sell prescription drugs online and through the mail. Most retail drugstores also offer other

The statement of cash flows outlines some of the changes to the capital structure. The company added $164.5 million in a consolidated loan facility, and it paid out $138.1 million in dividends. There were no share buybacks during the year. The company states in the annual report (p.4) that it intends to maintain a conservative gearing ratio. The company in this section attributes its increased borrowings to projects and opportunities on which it has embarked. These investments lie within the integrated retail, franchise and property system. One of the

Along with the company's strong market performance, the Walgreens Corporation continually shows considerable growth. 2006 ended with Walgreens' 32nd consecutive year of record sales and earnings ("Walgreen Co. reports..., 2006). Walgreens' 2005 sales of $47.4 were a 12.5% increase over the previous year and over $1.5 billion in earnings were a 15.5% increase over the previous year (Walgreens Corporation, 2006a). Furthermore, a new Walgreens store opens approximately every 19 hours (Carpenter, 2004). Consequently, the Walgreens name carries considerable brand equity as a nationwide retailer known for quality and convenience. In fact, Walgreens has positioned itself as the drugstore offering the most convenience (Walgreens Corporation, 2006c). As such, Walgreens offers drive-thru pharmacies in over 80% of its stores, and nearly 30% of stores are open 24 hours a day (Walgreens Corporation, 2006a). The company strives to offer a merchandise mix in line with this focus, providing customers with one-stop stopping for not only prescription drugs,

The competitive prices, countless discount opportunities, and friendly employees keep customers loyal to Walgreens even if they are not making frequent visits to the pharmacy department. This paper seeks to analyze the different components of the drug store industry and the aspects of the marketing strategy of the Walgreens Company that have kept it a strong competitor for so many years.

Walgreens pharmacists are beginning to play a greater role in health care than ever before. In addition to offering pharmacy services, Walgreens provides convenient access to important health services such as health tests and immunizations recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A firm’s strategic business plan should consist of its mission, future direction, performance targets and strategy. Walgreens’ corporate strategy, as reflected in its mission statement1, is to provide the most convenient access to healthcare services and consumer goods in America15. To help facilitate this, the company employs such things as online sales, online prescription refill capabilities, offers community health care clinics and monitors the effectiveness of in-store displays to improve customer’s shopping experiences. 12 million people visit its website monthly 15.

When analyzing Microsoft’s capital structure the percentage of liabilities that construct the firm’s total assets is 42.87%. Showing that less than half of the firm’s total assets are represented by liabilities. Now the percentage of the total assets that are represented by stockholders’ equity is 57.12%. Showing that stockholder’s equity represents slightly more than half of

From 2002 to 2005, Walgreens reported a compounded annual growth rate of 10.1%, growing to $42.2 billion in total revenues. This strong revenue growth was primary driven by organic expansion through new store openings. Since 2002, Walgreens has added 1070 net new stores (22% increase) while CVS has added 1,384 net new stores (25% increase), of which 86%, or 1200 of CVS' store additions, were due to the 2004 acquisition of Eckerd. As a result, although CVS reported an impressive 21% increase in sales from 2004 to 2005 compared to Walgreens 12.5% (a decline from 15.3% in 2003 to 2004), it was primarily due to CVS experiencing the full effect of the mid-2004 acquisition of the 1200 Eckerd stores. Table 3 shows the year-over-year comparison of Walgreens total revenues to CVS'.

We would like to thank you so much for all the hard work that you all have been doing. As Walgreens still continue being one of the top largest retail pharmacy in the United States. Our goal and vision has always been; to be America's most loved pharmacy-led health, wellbeing and beauty retailer and to champion everyone’s right to be happy and healthy and that also include our employees. With that being said we really appreciate your loyalty and the excellent work that you continue to do despite our current predicament.

Capital structure is defined as the mix of the long-term sources of funds that a firm use. It is composed of equity, debt securities and affect long-term financing of the entity. It is made up by shareholder’s funds, long-term debt and preference share capital. The capital structure mostly focus on the proportions of debt and equity displayed in the company financial statements, especially in the balance sheet (Myers, 2001). The value of a firm can be calculated by the sum of the value of its firm’s debt and equity.