CVS Health to close 70 stores

CVS Health has embarked on a three-step streamlining initiative with a goal of saving approximately $3 billion from 2017 to 2021.



Two-thirds of the savings will be seen in CVS’s retail/long-term care segment, with the remaining one-third of savings seen in the pharmacy benefits manager category.



The new initiative will include the closing of 70 stores in 2017. The store closings should provide a $265 million benefit to CVS, mostly in 2017, and will help CVS deliver higher returns for shareholders over the long-term,” Dave Denton, executive VP and CFO of CVS, stated during Thursday’s CVS Analyst Day.



Denton also said the Woonsocket, R.I.-based retailer will “continue to provide convenient local access to the millions of patients we serve on a daily basis.”



CVS also is enhancing efficiency of corporate shared service, which involves consolidating similar activities across business units. The retailer has already begun the process, with Denton announcing early promising results, including 15% to 20% reductions in labor costs for relocated activities.



The final step, expected to save CVS between $700 million and $750 million per year, is to optimize the pharmacy platform. This involves seamlessly redistributing various aspects of pharmacy workload to better maximize script fulfillment capacity through use of process redesign and technology.



Denton also announced during his CVS Analyst Day remarks that the company approved a dividend increase of 18% for 2017. Hence, CVS will pay out $2 per share in dividends, per year, next year.