The large pharmacy group Walgreens Boots Alliance in the United States and the United Kingdom announced that it had made a provision of $5.8 billion for its investment in the suburban medical clinic group VillageMD. The group recorded a net loss of $5.9 billion in the second quarter ending February 29; during this period, the adjusted earnings per share was reported at $1.2, which was better than the market expectation of $0.82.

After the news was exposed, Walgreens' stock price rose by 2.5% repeatedly on Thursday.

During the tenure of Rosalind Brewer, the former CEO of Walgreens, about $6 billion was invested in the VillageMD project, including the acquisition of the emergency group Summit Health, which became the controlling shareholder. However, Summit Health is still in a state of burning money. After Timothy Wentworth took over as the current CEO of Walgreens, he changed the strategy and fully promoted cost-saving measures.

Meanwhile, in response to the severe challenges faced by the retail business, Walgreens revised its earnings per share forecast for the fiscal year ending at the end of August from the range of $3.2 to $3.5 to $3.2 to $3.35.