Specialty Retailing - ReportWire

Barclays to buy retail banking arm of supermarket chain Tesco for £600 million

Tesco on Friday said it was selling the retailing banking business of Tesco Bank to Barclays for £600 million initially, and then another £100 million after the settlement of certain regulatory capital amounts and after transaction costs.

The U.K. supermarket chain said it will use majority of a combined £1 billion, which also includes a special dividend previously announced from Tesco Bank, for a share buyback.

It will retain insurance, ATMs, travel money and gift cards, that on a proforma basis account for roughly £80 million to £100 million in operating profit, and said the deal is mildly accretive to earnings per share.

Barclays said it’s acquiring credit cards, unsecured personal loans, deposits and the operating infrastructure that includes £8.3 billion of unsecured lending balances with a credit quality consistent with its existing U.K. portfolios. The business it’s buying had an adjusted operating profit of approximately £85 million in the 12 months ended February 2023.

Barclays also will enter into an exclusive strategic partnership with Tesco for an initial period of 10 years to market and distribute credit cards, unsecured personal loans and deposits using the Tesco brand, paying £50 million per year.

Tesco
TSCO,
+0.89%
shares have dropped 3% this year while Barclays
BARC,
-1.02%
shares have declined by 7%.

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February 8, 2024

Intel, Tesla, Apple, Iovance, NetEase, Coherus BioSciences, and More Stock Market Movers

Updated Dec 27, 2023, 7:34 am EST / Original Dec 27, 2023, 4:26 am EST

Stock futures traded slightly lower Wednesday after the S&P 500 finished higher Tuesday and just 0.45% below its record close of 4,796.56 hit Jan. 3, 2022. The broad market index has risen 24% this year and has gained 4.5% this month as traders bet the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates as soon as March.

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December 27, 2023

Nike says 'newness' is crucial to its growth. One analyst says it's not working

As sneaker makers try to stay relevant amid waning demand, Nike Inc. executives on Thursday said they were banking on “newness and innovation” to win over reluctant shoppers. And as sales deals on shoes proliferate, they said interest in its sneakers that cost over $100 is still solid, and that an expansion of its Jordan brand — beyond basketball gear and shoes — represents an opportunity to boost profits.

But one analyst on Friday cast doubt over whether those plans will work for all of Nike’s
NKE,
-11.83%
customers in the long term.

“Nike needs improved marketing outside of basketball, streetwear and lifestyle trends,” TD Cowen analyst John Kernan said in a research note on Friday. “Innovation at the higher end of its assortment is not resonating at scale while . . . Nike faces disruption from smaller competitors in footwear and apparel. Jordan brand moving into lower price points and away from a scarcity model creates risk to the fastest-growing piece of the business.”

That assessment came after Nike’s quarterly results and dimmer outlook after the market close on Thursday sent shares reeling. Management said that consumers were still cautious, as higher prices for essential goods siphon away what they can spend on new sneakers and clothes.

Following the results, TD Cowen analysts on Friday downgraded the stock to their version of a hold rating. CFRA, meanwhile, also lowered its opinion on the stock to sell from hold.

Shares of Nike were down 11.6% on Friday.

During Nike’s fiscal second quarter, sales trends were shaky in both the athletic-gear maker’s digital channels and its markets abroad, executives said Thursday. In North America, sales slipped 4% year over year. For the holidays, sales were softer outside of the big discount days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And competition from the likes of Adidas
ADDYY,
-5.55%,
Deckers Brands
DECK,
-1.48%
subsidiary Hoka One One and running-shoe maker On Holding
ONON,
-3.71%
hasn’t gone anywhere.

Nike’s results, Kernan said, were a sign that Wall Street’s profit estimates were too high for Adidas and other competitors like Vans owner VF Corp.
VFC,
-3.23%
and Under Armour
UA,
-3.52%.

On the company’s earnings call Thursday, Nike said it didn’t plan on getting sucked into a “race to the bottom on digital,” where weaker online traffic forced more markdowns. But like Kernan, Raymond James analyst Rick Patel also had questions about Nike’s efforts to push full-priced product.

“Nike noted that it intends to focus on full-price selling and doesn’t want to participate in aggressive discounting,” he said. “Also, it aims to manage inventories for key franchises more carefully going forward in order to avoid the promotional fray, which also limits sales growth. We view these as the right moves to protect the health of the brand, but also acknowledge that it leaves Nike at a near-term competitive disadvantage to drive revenue.”

CFRA analyst Zachary Warring, in emailed commentary, said some of Nike’s other rivals could cut into demand.

“Although Nike maintains a fortress balance sheet with significant capital returns, we believe the multiple will trend back down to pre-pandemic levels as the company faces competition from brands like Hoka and On [Holding] while it looks for new growth drivers and focuses on cutting costs,” Warring said.

Nike executives on Thursday said Jordan-branded clothing and products for golf, soccer and football, along with products for women and children, would bring stronger results. They said the same for bras, leggings, retro-themed running shoes and other offerings in its business geared toward women.

The company also announced plans to save up to $2 billion over the next three years. That savings effort, it said, could include simplifying its product selection, bringing more automation into its operations, and “streamlining” the company by shedding management layers.

Nike has reportedly already begun laying off workers. The company on Thursday said it expected to book pre-tax restructuring charges of around $400 million to $450 million “primarily associated with employee-severance costs.”

Nike plans to reinvest those savings back into the company. But as the company tries to fatten margins, Jefferies analyst Randal Konik said those reinvestments could do the opposite.

“We would expect [management] to reinvest a majority of these cost savings, likely leaving less margin and earnings ‘cushion’ should top-line performance continue to soften over the next 6-12 months,” he said.

In recent years, Nike has been trying to sell fewer items through outside retail chains and more through its own stores and online channels. But executives on Thursday said that multiyear effort had created “complexity and inefficiencies”

Edward Jones analyst Brian Yarbrough told MarketWatch that Nike is likely cutting costs after weighing the broader economic backdrop and weakness in its digital business against its sales and margin goals.

“Combined with a slower revenue-growth environment — and the fact that digital, which is their more profitable channel, is slowing and in some markets declining — I think they probably said, ‘If we’re going to get there, it’s probably going to have to come with some cost cuts,’” Yarbrough said.

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December 22, 2023

Nike Beats Profit Expectations, Sees $2 Billion of Cost Cuts

Nike beat expectations for second-quarter profit and announced a $2 billion cost-cutting plan, as it sees sales softening for the second half of its fiscal year.

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December 21, 2023

This is what we can expect to see from meme stocks in 2024

It may be a couple of years since the meme-stock feeding frenzy hit its heights, but we’re still seeing occasional bursts of meme-like activity in number of stocks.

No discussion of meme stocks would be complete without OG AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.
AMC,
-0.89%.
But while the movie theater chain and original meme stock darling still grabs plenty of attention, it no longer fits the bill of a meme stock, according to Alicia Reese, VP of equity research at Wedbush. “AMC has seemingly lost its meme status, its share price having come crashing back down to earth over the past several months, particularly since its APE fold-in and reverse stock split,” she said. “AMC is now trading at a more normalized valuation, even if still at the high-end of its pre-meme historic range.”

AMC’s shares ended Friday’s session at $6.65, a far cry from their high of $393.63 on June 2, 2021, during the meme-stock frenzy.

“AMC’s premium valuation here is driven in part by a sub-section of the shareholders it gained during its meme stage, who have remained loyal to the company and have long claimed to be AMC shareholders for life,” Reese added. “AMC shed all the rest of its meme-era shareholders and are now left with the lifers, along with some institutional shareholders now that valuation has come back to a more normalized range.”

The analyst thinks that in 2024, AMC will continue to issue pre-authorized shares to pay down its high-debt balance, as evidenced by the $350 million equity offering completed this week. “The company is focused on right-sizing the balance sheet, while attempting to maintain strong relations with the AMC lifers still propping up the stock,” said Reese.

Fellow original meme stock GameStop has also been in the news recently, with the company’s board of directors approving a new investment policy, which lets the company invest in equity securities, among other investments. The board also gave Chairman and Chief Executive Ryan Cohen the authority to manage the investment portfolio. The new policy was dubbed “alarming” and “inane” by Wedbush Managing Director Michael Pachter.

“If he can invest in anything – farmland, chicken feed, cryptocurrency – that’s not in the best interests of the shareholders,” he told MarketWatch. “Heaven knows what he will do.”

As for GameStop, the analyst describes the videogame retailer as a declining business, pointing to the company’s third-quarter revenue of $1.078 billion, which was down from $1.186 billion in the prior year’s quarter. “They are shrinking, period, and they can’t save their way to prosperity,” he added.

The company’s new investment policy could also fuel more meme-style activity, according to Pachter, who says that Cohen’s moves will be closely watched. “He will invest in something and it will possibly become the next meme stock,” the analyst told MarketWatch.

Pachter pointed to Cohen’s decision in 2022 to unload his huge stake in beleaguered home goods retailer and sometime meme stock Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. just months after buying it. In August of that year Cohen sold his entire stake in Bed Bath & Beyond five months after accruing the stake in an activist campaign, amassing a profit of more than $58 million.

Stocktwits, a social platform for investors and traders, told MarketWatch that it has seen a dedicated core audience of retail investors stick with the likes of AMC and GameStop. “Message volume and sentiment have remained elevated on the platform throughout the year, with their audiences growing temporarily around earnings or other events that create volatility,” Tom Bruni, senior writer at Stocktwits, told MarketWatch.

Retail traders are still on the lookout for high-volatility situations, according to Bruni, who cited the example of Vietnamese electric vehicle stock VinFast Auto Ltd.
VFS,
+13.54%,
which had a “crazy month” in August before crashing back down. “However, we would note that there have been fewer instances of these types of meme stocks occurring this year, and their lifespan tended to be pretty short,” he added.

“For stocks with the ‘meme’ potential in 2024, look to beaten-down areas of the market that already have strong retail investor communities around them,” Bruni told MarketWatch. “Several that stick out are electric vehicle stocks (specifically startups), solar stocks, or anything China-related. Traders will likely be looking for stocks at the intersection of these themes, like Lucid Group ($LCID), as potential ‘powder kegs’ for volatility in 2024.”

Shares of Lucid Group Inc.
LCID,
-7.20%
are down 30.2% in 2023, compared with the S&P 500 index’s
SPX
gain of 22.9%.

One thing is for sure – the social media dynamics that created the meme stock phenomenon are not going away. “Internet culture will continue to be more prevalent in markets as the world becomes more digitized and young people age into participation,” Tommy Tranfo, head of community at Stocktwits, told MarketWatch. “Crypto markets are an area where we expect to see a large concentration of this activity, particularly within the context of a crypto bull market, which will likely bring in a new wave of market participants who will skew toward the internet culture demo.”

“New crypto meme communities such as the $BONK (a dog-themed coin on the Solana blockchain) are already clear examples of this craze taking place,” he added.

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December 15, 2023

U.S. stocks end higher after job report, and Dow scores longest weekly winning streak since February 2019

U.S. stocks closed higher Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average scoring its longest weekly winning streak since February 2019, as investors digested the latest job report.

How stock indexes traded

The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA
rose 130.49 points, or 0.4%, to close at 36,247.87, its highest closing value since Jan. 12, 2022.
The S&P 500
SPX
gained 18.78 points, or 0.4%, to finish at 4,604.37, marking its highest close since March 29, 2022.
The Nasdaq Composite
COMP
climbed 63.98 points, or 0.4%, to end at 14,403. 97, scoring its highest closing value since April 4, 2022.

For the week, the Dow eked out a gain of less than 0.1%, the S&P 500 edged up 0.2% and the Nasdaq advanced 0.7%. All three major indexes rose for a sixth straight week, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

What drove markets

U.S. stocks ended higher Friday as investors parsed a stronger-than-expected job report.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday that the economy added 199,000 jobs in November, while the unemployment rate fell to 3.7% from 3.9%. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had forecast that 190,000 jobs would be added in the month.

“It’s nice to see that a soft landing still can take place,” Yung-Yu Ma, chief investment officer at BMO Wealth Management, said by phone Friday. But the market had been getting “too optimistic” about potential interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve in the early part of next year, he added.

The job report is “perhaps a wash” for markets as “average hourly earnings growth came in a little on the high side,” Ma said. That could contribute to inflationary pressures and push a Fed pivot on rate cuts further out in 2024 than markets were expecting.

“The Fed can probably be patient for a while,” he said. Fed Chair Jerome Powell may “strike a bit more of a hawkish tone” after the central bank’s monetary-policy meeting next week, potentially pushing back against some of the enthusiasm for earlier rate cuts, Ma said.

Average hourly earnings rose 0.4% in November, up 4% year over year, the job report shows.

“Even though the headline 199,000 new jobs created is just slightly above consensus estimates for 190,000 new positions, the lower unemployment rate of 3.7%, coupled with higher-than-expected average hourly earnings, caused a jump higher in Treasury yields,” Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial, said in emailed comments.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note
BX:TMUBMUSD10Y
climbed 11.5 basis points Friday to 4.244%, according to Dow Jones Market Data. That’s below its high this year of about 5% in October.

Meanwhile, the stock market’s so-called fear gauge remained low, with the CBOE Volatility Index
VIX
declining to 12.35 on Friday, FactSet data show.

See: The VIX says stocks are ‘reliably in a bull market’ heading into 2024. Here’s how to read it.

In other economic data released Friday, the University of Michigan’s gauge of consumer sentiment rose to a preliminary reading of 69.4 in December, its first increase in five months. Inflation expectations also moderated, the university’s survey of consumer sentiment showed.

Such a big swing for a single reading of the survey is unusual, said Claudia Sahm, a former Federal Reserve economist who now runs a consulting business. “These data usually don’t move like that,” she said during a phone interview with MarketWatch.

Next week’s economic calendar will include a reading on U. S. inflation from the consumer-price index as well as the outcome of the Fed’s two-day policy meeting, scheduled to conclude Dec. 13.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 notched a sixth straight week of gains, its longest such winning streak since the stretch ending Nov. 15, 2019, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average logged its longest stretch of weekly gains since February 2019.

Companies in focus

Lululemon Athletica Inc. shares
LULU,
+5.37%
jumped 5.4% after the company late Thursday called for lower-than-expected holiday-quarter figures, saying that is navigating an “uncertain” economy.
Carrier Global Corp.’s stock
CARR,
+4.50%
rose 4.5% after the company announced the sale of its Global Access Solutions business to Honeywell International for $4.95 billion.
Mullen Automotive Inc. shares
MULN,
-5.13%
dropped 5.1% after the electric-vehicle maker filed a lawsuit against a group of investors for allegedly using “spoofing” to manipulate its share price.

Steve Goldstein contributed.

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December 8, 2023

7% Dividend Yields or Higher: The S&P 500’s 6 Best Payouts

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November 29, 2023

Lowe’s Sales Disappoint as Consumers Pull Back. The Stock Is Dropping.

Lowe’s earned more than expected in the third quarter but the stock was tumbling after the home-improvement retailer reported disappointing sales and noted that consumers were reining in spending.

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November 21, 2023

WeWork’s stock has continued the strange trend of the bankruptcy bounce

In a strange flashback to the demise of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., WeWork Inc.’s stock soared on its over-the-counter debut this week, just days after the office sharing company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

WeWork
WEWKQ,
+23.02%
filed for Chapter 11 in New Jersey on Monday and the beleaguered company’s stock was halted before the open that day. The New York Stock Exchange started the delisting process for WeWork that same day.

Trading resumed over the counter on Wednesday, with WeWork shares ending their first session as an OTC stock up 91.5%.

WeWork Chapter 11 a meme stock reality check: ‘No one should ever buy a stock that is rumored to be headed to bankruptcy’

A similar scenario happened when shares of Bed Bath & Beyond began trading over the counter in May after the Nasdaq started the delisting process for the bankrupt home-goods retailer and sometime meme-stock darling. Despite Bed Bath & Beyond’s well-documented woes, the stock ended its first session as an OTC stock up 30.4%. Bed Bath & Beyond’s shares were canceled in September.

In June Overstock.com acquired Bed Bath & Beyond’s intellectual property, and began operating as Bed Bath & Beyond, before changing its corporate name to Beyond Inc.
BYON,
+2.06%.

Like Bed Bath & Beyond, WeWork has continued to attract investor attention even as the company’s problems mounted. In mid-September WeWork’s stock saw a record run-up amid meme stock chatter, just weeks after WeWork warned that it may not be able to stay in business.

Users on social media noted the activity in WeWork’s share price this week, with Twitter user @asunapg warning Thursday that the OTC markets are “much more volatile and often a death trap for a lot of companies.”

“Here we go again” tweeted @B2Investor Friday, with popcorn and clown emojis.

WeWork’s stock ended Thursday’s session down 21.3% and the stock is down 12.7% Friday, compared with the S&P 500 index’s
SPX
gain of 1.3%.

Tom Bruni, head of content at StockTwits, a social platform for investors and traders, told MarketWatch that, from what he is seeing, there doesn’t seem to be broad interest in the stock.

“Unlike Bed Bath & Beyond and others where it seemed possible to restructure and continue operating, the current situation for WeWork is mainly a math equation,” he told MarketWatch. “It’s looking most likely that it’ll be bought out, the question is at what price and how much cash (if anything) does that leave for common shareholders to receive? The consensus right now is that all value from its 52 million shares of common stock will be wiped out.”

Set against this backdrop, short covering could be driving the stock price up in the short term, according to Bruni. “Many market participants don’t want to risk being squeezed by unexpected good news, so they’d rather take their gains than ride it all the way down to zero,” he said. “Should that high short interest start to create sustainable upside momentum (more than a few days), then we’d likely see other traders get involved on the long side.”

“But for now, with earnings season in full swing, there’s plenty of volatility and news elsewhere for investors/traders to focus on,” he added.

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November 10, 2023

Here’s what the Israel-Hamas war has done to U.S. gasoline and diesel prices

Fuel prices, with the cost of gasoline and diesel at the pump both down from a month ago, don’t appear to be fazed by the escalating risks to oil supplies in the Middle East from the Israel-Hamas war, but they are.

The decline in fuel prices seen nationally is actually a “bit above what would be ‘normal’ for this time of year,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. However, he believes “prices won’t fall as far as they would have had the attacks on Israel not happened.”

On Friday, the average retail price for a gallon of regular gasoline stood at $3.528, down 5.7 cents from a week ago, while the average retail diesel price was at $4.465 a gallon on Friday, down 7.8 cents from Sept. 30, according to data from GasBuddy.

U.S. retail gasoline prices have fallen so far this month.

GasBuddy

“Geopolitical risk is now heightened, changing the calculus” for the fuel market, said Brian Milne, product manager, editor and analyst at DTN.

‘Seasonal component’

In considering retail gasoline prices during the fourth quarter, the “seasonal component is less pronounced than in years past,” said Milne. Demand for gasoline tends to fall following the summer travel season. Combined with a “strong slate of refinery maintenance,” which led to less fuel supply on the market, the rise in crude oil prices has slowed the decline in fuel prices, said Milne.

If not for the heightened geopolitical risk in the Middle East, he said he might have expected to see gasoline prices decline by another 30 cents to 40 cents per gallon into late December because of lower demand.

Retail gas prices may fall another 20 cents a gallon or more, depending on the location within the U.S., if we avoid broader hostilities in the Middle East, said Milne.

However, if a conflict breaks out beyond Israel and the Gaza Strip, gasoline prices are likely to move sharply higher because of a spike in crude costs, he said.

For its part, oil has seen volatile trading following the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, with futures prices for U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude
CLZ23,
-0.42%

CL.1,
-0.39%
higher for the week, but lower for the month.

California prices ‘plummet’

For now, California, which typically is among the states that pays the most per-gallon for gasoline partly due to taxes on the fuel, is seeing prices “plummet” — down nearly 60 cents in the last three weeks, said GasBuddy’s De Haan.

“The West Coast is certainly seeing a much larger decline than is ‘normal’ and it’s due to the refinery situation now improving drastically,” as well as California’s RVP waiver, he said.

The California Air Resources Board allowed gasoline sold or supplied for use in California that exceeds the RVP, or Reid Vapor Pressure, limits through the end of Oct. 31, marking an early transition for the state from the lower RVP gas used in the summer to help cut gasoline emissions to the higher RVP gas used in the winter.

On Friday, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in California sold for $5.476, GasBuddy data show. That’s down 16.7 cents in just the last week.

Gas price outlook

De Haan said he does not expect to see a spike in gas prices nationally at this point, and there’s still room for prices to fall — just not as much following the Hamas attack on Israel.

“If we get to November and Iran gets involved in the situation, then we certainly could see gas prices impacted in some way as the current drops will likely be fully passed on by then, giving stations no ‘room’ to absorb higher prices reflected by a potential rise in oil,” said De Haan.

Still, falling demand, as well as “seasonality in general,” are what are pushing prices down, “enhanced by refinery improvements in areas” that saw price surges, he said.

Prices may even fall further after refinery maintenance season wraps up in mid-November, and refiners have to find places to put even more gasoline output, said De Haan.

He’s comfortable with the gasoline price forecasts GasBuddy issued in December of last year, which predicted a monthly national average for the fuel of $3.53 for October — matching the current price. The forecast also called for an average of $3.36 a gallon for November and $3.17 for December.

GasBuddy doesn’t have a forecast for 2024 yet, but prices may look similar to this year, as long as the situation in the Middle East doesn’t further crumble,” said De Haan.

View on diesel

Diesel, however, is another story.

Price for that fuel have dropped by 85.5 cents a gallon from a year ago to Friday’s $4.465 level, GasBuddy data show.

U.S. retail diesel prices are sharply lower than a year ago.

GasBuddy

While down from a year ago, diesel prices are currently at a “very high level historically” because global supply is low, said DTN’s Milne.

At this time in 2022 diesel fuel inventory was even tighter than it is now, and Europe was heading into winter without Russian natural gas after it was cutoff following the invasion of Ukraine, he said.

That led to a spike in natural-gas prices and prices for gasoil, a European heating oil, also surged, lifting heating oil and diesel prices globally, explained Milne.

Like gasoline, diesel prices could move “sharply higher if the war in Israel expands, and oil flow is put at greater risk,” he said.

De Haan, meanwhile, said diesel prices could climb closer to $5 a gallon if there’s a “squeeze,” with relief then [coming] in the spring/summer” seasons.

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October 20, 2023

Rite Aid is closing these 154 stores as part of its bankruptcy

Rite Aid plans to shutter 154 stores, many of them in Pennsylvania and California, as part of its bankruptcy plans, according to an initial list of those closures published in court documents filed on Tuesday.

That list was released Wednesday after the drugstore chain filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New Jersey over the weekend, amid billions in debt related to opioid lawsuits. The company at that time said it would “continue assessing its footprint and close additional underperforming stores” and announced the appointment of Jeffrey Stein as chief executive.

Here are the store locations slated to close:

California
4044 Eagle Rock Boulevard, Los Angeles
4046 South Centiela Avenue, Los Angeles
7859 Firestone Boulevard, Downey
4402 Atlantic Avenue, Long Beach
935 North Hollywood Way, Burbank
139 North Grand Avenue, Covina
13905 Amar Road, La Puente
920 East Valley Boulevard, Alhambra
3813 Plaza Drive, Oceanside
1670 Main Street, Ramona
6505 Mission Gorge Road, San Diego
8985 Mira Mesa Boulevard, San Diego
25906 Newport Road, Menifee
24829 Del Prado, Dana Point
30222 Crown Valley Parkway, Laguna Niguel
19701 Yorba Linda Boulevard, Yorba Linda
1406 West Edinger Avenue, Santa Ana
2738 East Thompson Boulevard, Ventura
720 North Ventura Road, Oxnard
20572 Homestead Road, Cupertino
2620 El Camino Real, Santa Clara
901 Soquel Avenue, Santa Cruz
571 Bellevue Road, Atwater
5409 Sunrise Boulevard, Citrus Heights
1309 Fulton Avenue, Sacramento
3029 Harbor Boulevard, Costa Mesa
959 Crenshaw Boulevard, Los Angeles
3000 South Archibald Avenue, Ontario
15800 Imperial Highway, La Mirada
8509 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine
499 Alvarado Street, Monterey

Connecticut
289 Greenwood Avenue, Bethel

Delaware
25 Chestnut Hill Plaza, Newark
3209 Kirkwood Highway, Wilmington

Idaho
1600 North Main Street, Meridian
5005 West Overland Road, Boise

Maryland
5 Bel Air South Parkway, Suite 1347, Bel Air
728 East Pulaski Highway, Elkton
5624 Baltimore National Pike, Baltimore
5804 Ritchie Highway, Baltimore
7501 Ritchie Highway, Glen Burnie
7967 Baltimore Annapolis Boulevard, Glen Burnie

Massachusetts
80 East Main Street, Webster

Michigan
924 West Main Street, Fremont
507 North Lafayette Street, Greenville
715 South Clinton Street, Grand Ledge
15250 24 Mile Road, Macomb
102 North Centerville Road, Sturgis
47300 Pontiac Trail, Wixom
35250 South Gratiot Avenue, Clinton Township
51037 Van Dyke Avenue, Shelby Township
3100 East Michigan Avenue, Jackson
9155 Telegraph Road, Taylor
1243 U.S. 31 South, Manistee
29447 Ford Road, Garden City
2838 East Court Street, Flint
1900 East 8 Mile Road, Detroit
36485 Garfield Road, Clinton Township
25922 Middlebelt Road, Farmington Hills
109 North Whittemore Street, St. Johns
1124 North Ballenger Highway, Flint
2701 South Cedar Street, Lansing

New Hampshire
420 Daniel Webster Highway, Merrimack

New Jersey
4057 Asbury Avenue Suite 8, Tinton Falls
431 Haledon Avenue, Haledon
35 Mill Road, Irvington
1636 Route 38 Suite 49, Lumberton
773 Hamilton Street, Somerset
1434 South Black Horse Pike, Williamstown
3 Marshall Hill Road West, Milford
210 Bridgeton Pike, Mantua
108 Swedesboro Road Suite 20, Mullica Hill
2370 Route 33, Robbinsville
1726 Route 37, East Toms River
86 B Lacey Road, Whiting

New York
2887 Harlem Road, Cheektowaga
2002 Avenue U, Brooklyn
2 Whitney Avenue, Floral Park
71-18 Kissena Boulevard, Flushing
3131 Hempstead Turnpike, Levittown
2981 Ocean Avenue, Brooklyn
3199 Long Beach Road, Oceanside
198 West Merrick Road, Valley Stream
836 Sunrise Highway, Bay Shore
2784 Sunrise Highway, Bellmore
901 Merrick Road, Copiague
577 Larkfield Road, East Northport
695 East Jericho Turnpike, Huntington Station
700-43 Patchogue-Yaphank Road, Medford
273 Pine Hollow Road, Oyster Bay
397 Sunrise Highway, West Patchogue
593 Old Town Road, Port Jeff Station
65 Route 111, Smithtown
2453 Elmwood Avenue, Kenmore
1567 Penfield Road, Rochester

Ohio
3129 Lincoln Way East, Massillon
120 South Main Street, New Carlisle
146 Woodman Drive, Dayton
2701 Market Street, Youngstown
401 West North Street, Springfield
230 South Main Street, Bellefontaine

Oregon
2440 Southeast Cesar Chavez Boulevard, Portland

Pennsylvania
2715 Parade Street, Erie
5612 North Fifth Street, Philadelphia
350 Main Street, Pennsburg
4011 Cottman Avenue, Philadelphia
1441 Old York Road, Abington
300 Market Street, Johnstown
8716 New Falls Road, Levittown
1750 Bustleton Avenue, Philadelphia
169 West Lancaster Avenue, Ardmore
1315 East Washington Lane, Philadelphia
801 Wyoming Avenue Suite 9, West Pittston
657 Heacock Road, Yardley
2801 West Dauphin Street, Philadelphia
1709 Liberty Street, Erie
674 Route 196, Suite 14, Tobyhanna
2722 West 9th Street, Chester
950 East Baltimore Pike, Yeadon
8235 Stenton Avenue, Philadelphia
7941 Oxford Avenue, Philadelphia
5440 Lansdowne Avenue, Philadelphia
700 Stevenson Boulevard, New Kensington
208 East Central Avenue, Titusville
1080 South West End Boulevard, Quakertown
136 North 63rd Street, Philadelphia
351 Brighton Avenue, Rochester
5235 Library Road, Bethel Park
5990 University Boulevard Suite 30, Moon Township
2501 Saw Mill Run Boulevard, Pittsburgh
5410 Keeport Drive, Pittsburgh
6090 Route 30, Greensburg
4830 William Penn Highway, Export
1730 Wilmington Road, New Castle
2178 West Union Boulevard, Bethlehem
1628 South Fourth Street, Allentown
2401 East Venango Street, Philadelphia
6327-43 Torresdale Avenue, Philadelphia
200 West Ridge Avenue Suite 112, Conshohocken
301 Eisenhower Drive, Hanover
7036 Wertzville Road, Mechanicsburg

Virginia
833 North Battlefield Blvd, Chesapeake
1458 Mount Pleasant Road, Chesapeake

Washington
601 South Grady Way Suite P, Renton
3202 132nd Street Southeast, Mill Creek
110 Southwest 148th Street, Burien
10103 Evergreen Way, Everett
8230 Martin Way East, Lacey
22201 Meridian Avenue East, Graham
9600 15th Avenue Southwest, Seattle
2518 196th Street Southwest, Lynnwood
3620 Factory Blvd Southeast, Bellevue
11919 Northeast 8th Street, Bellevue
7370 170th Avenue Northeast, Redmond

— Mike Murphy contributed to this report.

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October 18, 2023

Debt-ridden Rite Aid files for bankruptcy, will close more stores

Drugstore chain Rite Aid Corp. filed for bankruptcy Sunday, as it faces billions of dollars of debt related to opioid lawsuits.

In a statement Sunday night, Rite Aid
RAD,
-16.81%
said it will close some “underperforming” stores and announced Jeffrey Stein as its new chief executive and chief restructuring officer. Interim CEO Elizabeth Burr will remain on the company’s board.

The bankruptcy filing had been expected for months, and the Wall Street Journal reported in August that Rite Aid was more than $3.3 billion in debt, due largely to hundreds of lawsuits related to its distribution of opioid painkillers. The bankruptcy filing stays pending litigation against the company.

Earlier this month, the New York Stock Exchange warned Rite Aid that it was “no longer in compliance” with the exchange’s minimum pricing and valuation standards, and gave it six months for the stock to regain compliance. Rite Aid shares have plunged about 80% year to date.

Rite Aid said Sunday that lenders will provide $3.45 billion in financing for the chain to continue operating through the chapter 11 bankruptcy process.

“With the support of our lenders, we look forward to strengthening our financial foundation, advancing our transformation initiatives and accelerating the execution of our turnaround strategy,” Stein said in a statement. “In doing so, we will be even better able to deliver the healthcare products and services our customers and their families rely on — now and into the future.”

Rite Aid said it would work to minimize the effect of store closures on its customers so there is no disruption of services, and will transfer affected workers to different locations when possible.

Rite Aid has about 2,100 stores and employs around 47,000 people. It has closed more than 200 stores in the past couple of years.

Rite Aid also said it had reached a deal for pharmacy benefit-solutions company MedImpact Healthcare Systems Inc. to acquire its Elixer Solutions business. A price for the transaction was not disclosed.

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October 15, 2023