Rite Aid 2nd-Quarter Loss Narrows

Rite Aid Corp. said its fiscal second-quarter loss narrowed as the drugstore chain reduced interest expense and sold more prescription drugs.

Camp Hill, Pa.-based Rite Aid, which was forced to erase $1 billion in profit for fiscal 1998 and 1999 in an accounting scandal, cut interest expense by refinancing debt. It boosted sales by slowing expansion, lowering drug prices and offering $20 coupons to returning pharmacy customers.

The company said it lost $105.3 million, or 22 cents a share, in the quarter, excluding several one-time items, compared with a loss of $456.5 million, or $1.97, a year earlier. Analysts, on average, expected a loss of 14 cents for the period ended Sept. 1, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.

Sales rose 7.3% to $3.69 billion. Sales at stores open at least a year rose 8.9%, with prescription same-store sales up 12%. Sales of nonprescription goods such as toothpaste rose 4.8%. Prescription sales made up 61% of Rite Aid’s revenue.

Rite Aid’s shares fell 49 cents to close at $7.15 on the NYSE.