Rite Aid Denies Plan to Sell All Western Stores

Rite Aid Corp. said Friday that it is sticking with plans to sell as many as 350 stores on the West Coast, denying it plans to sell all its stores in the region.

The Wall Street Journal on Friday said that the company plans to sell most or all of its 1,000 stores on the West Coast, citing a person familiar with the situation.

There is “absolutely no truth that the company is looking to sell all of the West Coast stores,” said Rite Aid spokeswoman Karen Rugen. She said the company is considering selling “several hundred” West Coast stores.

Rite Aid also is still considering selling all or part of its PCS Health Systems business, a manager of prescription drug benefits programs that it bought earlier this year for $1.5 billion, Rugen said. It is looking to raise cash and pay down some of its $4.5 billion in debt.

The company sold 38 West Coast stores last month to Longs Drug Stores Corp.

Rite Aid has struggled to integrate purchases, twice warned it would restate three years of results and faces a lawsuit by Florida that accuses it of overcharging customers. Last month, its chief executive resigned.

Its shares have fallen 86% this year, the biggest drop in Standard & Poor’s stock index.

Rite Aid, based in Camp Hill, Pa., has about 3,800 stores. Its shares rose 44 cents to close at $6.81 on the New York Stock Exchange.