UNITED STATES
 SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

Commission File Number 1-5742

RITE AID CORPORATION

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (717) 761-2633

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:   None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.  Yes x    No o

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to section 13 or section 15(d) of the Exchange Act.  Yes o    No x

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.  Yes x    No o

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.  Yes x    No o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, or a non-accelerated filer. See definition of “Accelerated Filer” and “Large Accelerated Filer’’ in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.  Large Accelerated x    Accelerated Filer o    Non-Accelerated Filer o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).  Yes o    No x

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common stock of the registrant held by non-affiliates of the registrant based on the closing price at which such stock was sold on the New York Stock Exchange on August 27, 2005 was approximately $2,215,043,413. For purposes of this calculation, executive officers, directors and 5% shareholders are deemed to be affiliates of the registrant.

As of April 21, 2006 the registrant had outstanding 528,880,621 shares of common stock, par value $1.00 per share.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the proxy statement for the registrant’s annual meeting of shareholders to be held on June 21, 2006 are incorporated by reference into Part III.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

				Page
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements				3
PART I
ITEM 1.		Business		4
ITEM 1A.		Risk Factors		11
ITEM 1B.		Unresolved Staff Comments		16
ITEM 2.		Properties		16
ITEM 3.		Legal Proceedings		18
ITEM 4.		Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders		18
PART II
ITEM 5.		Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities		19
ITEM 6.		Selected Financial Data		20
ITEM 7.		Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations		21
ITEM 7A.		Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk		38
ITEM 8.		Financial Statements and Supplementary Data		38
ITEM 9.		Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure		38
ITEM 9A.		Controls and Procedures		39
ITEM 9B.		Other Information		40
PART III
ITEM 10.		Directors and Executive Officers of the Registrant		41
ITEM 11.		Executive Compensation		41
ITEM 12.		Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters		41
ITEM 13.		Certain Relationships and Related Transactions		41
ITEM 14.		Principal Accountant Fees and Services		41
PART IV
ITEM 15.		Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules		41
SIGNATURES				89

 

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CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This report, as well as our other public filings or public statements, include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are often identified by terms and phrases such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “intend,” “estimate,” “expect,” “continue,” “should,” “could,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “will” and similar expressions and include references to assumptions and relate to our future prospects, developments and business strategies.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:

·       our high level of indebtedness;

·       our ability to make interest and principal payments on our debt and satisfy the other covenants contained in our senior secured credit facility and other debt agreements;

·       our ability to improve the operating performance of our existing stores in accordance with our long term strategy;

·       our ability to hire and retain pharmacists and other store personnel;

·       our ability to open or relocate stores according to our real estate development program;

·       the efforts of private and public third-party payors to reduce prescription drug reimbursement and encourage mail order;

·       competitive pricing pressures and continued consolidation of the drugstore industry;

·       changes in state or federal legislation or regulations;

·       the outcome of lawsuits and governmental investigations;

·       general economic conditions and inflation, interest rate movements and access to capital; and

·       other risks and uncertainties described elsewhere in this filing and from time to time in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“the SEC”).

We undertake no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements included in this report, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this report. Our actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from the results expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences are discussed in the sections entitled “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Overview and Factors Affecting Our Future Prospects” included in this annual report on Form 10-K.

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PART I

Item 1.                        Business

Overview

We are the third largest retail drugstore chain in the United States based on revenues and number of stores. We operate our drugstores in 27 states across the country and in the District of Columbia. As of March 4, 2006, we operated 3,323 stores.

In our stores, we sell prescription drugs and a wide assortment of other merchandise, which we call “front-end” products. In fiscal 2006, prescription drug sales accounted for 63.2% of our total sales. We believe that our pharmacy operations will continue to represent a significant part of our business due to favorable industry trends, including an aging population, increased life expectancy, the federal government’s adoption of a federally funded prescription drug benefit that began in January 2006 (Medicare Part D), which is part of the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, the discovery of new and better drug therapies and our on-going program of purchasing prescription files from independent pharmacies. We offer approximately 25,000 front-end products, which accounted for the remaining 36.8% of our total sales in fiscal 2006. Front end products include over-the-counter medications, health and beauty aids, personal care items, cosmetics, household items, beverages, convenience foods, greeting cards, seasonal merchandise and numerous other everyday and convenience products, as well as photo processing. We attempt to distinguish our stores from other national chain drugstores, in part, through our private brands and our strategic alliance with GNC, a leading retailer of vitamin and mineral supplements. We offer approximately 2,700 products under the Rite Aid private brand, which contributed approximately 11.8% of our front-end sales in the categories where private brand products were offered in fiscal 2006.

Our stores range in size from approximately 5,000 to 40,000 square feet. The overall average size of each store in our chain is approximately 12,800 square feet. The larger stores are concentrated in the western United States. As of March 4, 2006, approximately 54% of our stores are freestanding; approximately 41% of our stores include a drive-thru pharmacy; approximately 78% include one-hour photo shops; and approximately 34% include a GNC store-within-Rite Aid-store.

Our headquarters are located at 30 Hunter Lane, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania 17011, and our telephone number is (717) 761-2633. Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Pacific Exchange under the trading symbol of “RAD”. We were incorporated in 1968 and are a Delaware corporation.

Industry Trends

We believe pharmacy sales in the United States will grow between 6% and 9% each year over the next four years based upon studies published by a pharmaceutical market intelligence firm. This anticipated growth is expected to be driven by greater drug utilization, an aging population caused by the “baby boom’’ generation entering their sixties, the increasing life expectancy of the American population, the new Medicare Part D drug benefit program, the introduction of new drugs and the rate of inflation.

Generic prescription drugs help lower overall costs for customers and third party payors. We believe the utilization of existing generic pharmaceuticals is expected to continue to increase for several years. Further, we believe a significant number of new generics are expected to be introduced in the next couple of years. This increase in generic prescriptions improves gross profits in the retail drugstore industry.

The retail drugstore industry is highly competitive and has been experiencing consolidation. We believe that the continued consolidation of the drugstore industry, continued new store openings, increased mail order and drug importation will further increase competitive pressures in the industry. In

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addition, sales of potential generic pharmaceuticals continue to grow as a percentage of total prescription drug sales, which has a dampening effect on sales growth. The growth rate of prescription drug sales has also been impacted by slower introductions of successful new prescription drugs and safety concerns sometimes resulting in the recall of a drug, such as the antiarthritic drug recalls.

The retail drugstore industry relies significantly on third party payors. Third party payors, including the Medicare Part D plans and the state sponsored Medicaid agencies, periodically evaluate and at times change the eligibility requirements to reduce the number of participants or reduce certain reimbursement rates. These evaluations and resulting changes and reductions are expected to continue. When third-party payors, including the Medicare Part D program and the state sponsored Medicaid agencies, reduce the number of participants or reduce their reimbursement rates, sales and margins in the industry could be reduced, and profitability of the industry could be adversely affected. These possible adverse effects can be partially or entirely offset by expense control, by dispensing more higher margin generics or dispensing more prescriptions, which could come from the anticipated growth opportunities mentioned above or from competitors.

Strategy

Our strategy is to continue to focus on improving the productivity of our existing stores and developing new and relocated stores in our strongest existing markets. We believe that improving the sales of existing stores and growing our existing markets is critical to improving our profitability and cash flow.

The following paragraphs describe in more detail the components of our strategy:

Develop Stores in Existing Markets.   We have resumed our new store, store relocation and store remodeling program. The program is focused on our strongest existing markets. Our goal is to open or relocate approximately 800 to 1,000 stores by the end of fiscal 2010, of which we expect that approximately 50% will be relocated stores and the remaining 50% will be new stores. As part of this program, we plan to continue remodeling stores. An integral part of the program is a new prototype store. Fifty-seven new or relocated stores have recently been constructed and opened utilizing the new prototype. We expect that almost all of the planned new and relocated stores will be the new prototype store. We believe that this program over the longer term, along with the execution of our near term strategy of improving store productivity, will increase our sales.

Grow our Pharmacy Sales and Attract More Customers.   We believe that customer service and convenience are key factors to growing pharmacy sales. To improve customer service, we are focused  on our “With Us, It’s Personal” program that is aimed at delivering more personalized service along with timely delivery to our customers. To help our pharmacists do this, we have completed the development and roll out of our new pharmacy management and dispensing system. This new system, which we call “Nexgen”, provides our pharmacists with better tools and information to meet our customers’ needs. In addition, the new system provides management with important information about the performance of each pharmacy in critical operating areas that drive customer service. We provide our customers with an easy and convenient way to order refills over the telephone or the internet using our automatic refill program. To provide better value to our customers we recommend, when appropriate, the utilization of generic drugs. Generic drugs, which often cost our customers significantly less than a branded drug, are also more profitable for us. Our generic penetration continues to increase every year and we are setting our goals even higher in future years to take advantage of the substantial number of new generics expected to come to market in the next couple of  years.

The implementation of the Medicare Part D Act in January of 2006 provides prescription drug coverage to numerous senior citizens who previously were not covered. We partnered with several third party health plans in programs that communicated information on the Medicare Part D Act to senior citizens. We also offer senior citizens newsletters and prescription discounts through our Living More

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program, a customer loyalty program. We have also expanded our home health category to target senior citizens with products like wheelchairs, canes, electric scooters and products that enhance bath safety. We believe that programs like these will help us to grow prescription sales in this important market.

To help grow sales and script count, we acquire pharmacy files from other drug stores and have initiatives designed to attract and retain those customers. We have also recently added the capability to provide pharmacy benefit management (“PBM”) services to employers, health plans and insurance companies. We intend to offer, through our PBM capabilities, a 90 day at retail alternative to mail order. We also believe that providing PBM services will create opportunities to direct customers to our stores. Other initiatives put in place in fiscal 2006 that we expect to grow our pharmacy sales include the opening of in-store health clinics in the Portland, Oregon area, and the launch of a medication therapy management program, a fee for service arrangement, in conjunction with physicians and the University of Pittsburgh. These initiatives have been effective at growing sales in their target markets and have scalable, replicable potential for future expansion.

Grow Front-End Sales.   We intend to grow front-end sales through continued emphasis on core drugstore categories, a committment to health and wellness products to enhance our pharmacy position, a focus on seasonal and cross-merchandising, offering a wider selection of products and services to our customers and effective promotions in our weekly advertising circulars. Our focus for expanding our products and services includes several fully integrated health condition marketing programs, e.g., diabetes, allergy, vitamins, heart health, skincare and weight management, a continued strengthening of our collaborative relationship with our suppliers, an emphasis on our Rite Aid private brand products, which provide better value for our customers and higher margins for us, offering ethnic products targeted to selected markets, expansion of the number of GNC store-within-Rite Aid-store, and utilizing digital technology in our one-hour photo development. We believe that the new store and relocation program described earlier will also contribute to an increase in our front-end sales.

Focus on Customers and Associates.   Our “With Us, It’s Personal” commitment encourages associates to provide customers with a superior customer service experience. We obtain feedback on our customer service performance by utilizing an automated survey system that collects store specific information from customers shortly after the point of sale and from independent third party customer surveys. We also have several programs in place that are designed to enhance customer satisfaction, examples of which are the maintenance of a customer support center that centrally receives and processes all customer calls and our “never out of stock” program. We continue to develop and implement associate training programs to improve customer satisfaction and educate our associates about the products we offer. We have implemented programs that create compensatory and other incentives for associates to provide customers with excellent service. We believe that these steps further enable and motivate our associates to deliver superior customer service.

Expense Control.   Our goal is to either lower expense or contain expense in order to leverage the pharmacy and front end sales growth strategies described earlier and allow more investment in the strategies critical for our future. All expense areas are budgeted and monitored but there are targeted areas of spend that are spotlighted for improvement. The targeted expense areas are subject to analysis of the processes involved, an emphasis on collaboration between areas in the company and vendors, utilization of competition between vendors and consolidation of spend volumes to achieve economies of scale. Examples of targeted expense areas include: (i) inventory returns, (ii) utility expense, and (iii) temporary labor. We plan to reduce the volume of merchandise returns and thereby reduce the labor expense and inventory valuation losses related to returns. Utility expense control is focused on improving the energy management practices and replacing certain equipment to lower consumption and accessing alternative energy sources for a lower cost. We plan to collaborate and consolidate the various temporary labor arrangements throughout our business to achieve economies of scale.

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Products and Services

Sales of prescription drugs represented approximately 63.2%, 63.6%, and 63.6% of our total sales fiscal years 2006, 2005 and 2004, respectively. In fiscal years 2006, 2005 and 2004, prescription drug sales were $10.9 billion, $10.7 billion, and $10.5 billion, respectively.

We sell approximately 25,000 different types of non-prescription, or front-end products. The types and number of front-end products in each store vary, and selections are based on customer needs and preferences and available space. No single front-end product category contributed significantly to our sales during fiscal 2006, although certain front-end product classes contributed in excess of 10% to our sales. Our principal classes of products in fiscal 2006 were the following:

 

We offer approximately 2,700 products under the Rite Aid private brand, which contributed approximately 11.8% of our front-end sales in the categories where private brand products were offered in fiscal 2006. During fiscal 2006, we added 389 products under our private brand. We intend to continue to increase the number of private brand products.

We have a strategic alliance with GNC under which we have opened 1,145 GNC “stores-within-Rite Aid-stores” and have agreed to open an additional 155 GNC stores-within-Rite Aid-stores across the country by December 31, 2006. GNC is a leading nationwide retailer of vitamin and mineral supplements and personal care, fitness and other health-related products.

Technology

All of our stores are integrated into a common information system, which enables our customers to fill or refill prescriptions in any of our stores throughout the country, reduces chances of adverse drug interactions, and enables our pharmacists to fill prescriptions more accurately and efficiently. This system can be expanded to accommodate new stores. Our customers may also order prescription refills over the Internet through www.riteaid.com powered by drugstore.com, or over the phone through our telephonic rapid automated refill systems. As of March 4, 2006 we had installed ScriptPro automated pharmacy dispensing units, which are linked to our pharmacists’ computers and fill and label prescription drug orders, in 970 stores. The efficiency of ScriptPro units allows our pharmacists to spend an increased amount of time consulting with our customers. Additionally, each of our stores employs point-of-sale technology that supports sales analysis and recognition of customer trends. This same point-of-sale technology facilitates the maintenance of perpetual inventory records which together are the basis for our automated inventory replenishment process.

In fiscal 2005, we completed the roll-out of our next generation pharmacy dispensing system, and expanded e-prescribing services to all of our stores. We believe our next generation pharmacy system is state of the art and has enhanced management of customers’ prescription orders, assignment of responsibilities within the pharmacy, quality control and measurement and monitoring of each of our pharmacies’ key performance indicators, which include timeliness, completeness, and backlog. Our next generation pharmacy system was designed with optimal ease of use in mind so as to further enable our pharmacists to work directly with customers and doctors.

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Suppliers

During fiscal 2006, we purchased approximately 94% of the dollar volume of our prescription drugs from a single supplier, McKesson Corp (“McKesson”), under a contract, which runs through March 2009. Under the contract, with limited exceptions, we are required to purchase all of our branded pharmaceutical products from McKesson. If our relationship with McKesson was disrupted, we could temporarily have difficulty filling prescriptions until we executed a replacement strategy, which could negatively affect our business. We purchase generic (non-brand name) pharmaceuticals directly from manufacturers. We purchase our non-pharmaceutical merchandise from numerous manufacturers and wholesalers. We believe that competitive sources are readily available for substantially all of the non-pharmaceutical merchandise we carry and that the loss of any one supplier would not have a material effect on our business.

We sell private brand and co-branded products that generally are supplied by numerous competitive sources. The Rite Aid and GNC co-branded PharmAssure vitamin and mineral supplement products and the GNC branded vitamin and mineral supplement products that we sell in our stores are developed by GNC, and along with our Rite Aid brand vitamin and mineral supplements, are manufactured by GNC.

Customers and Third Party Payors

During fiscal 2006, our stores served an average of 1.7 million customers per day. The loss of any one customer would not have a material adverse impact on our results of operations.

In fiscal 2006, 93.9% of our pharmacy sales were to customers covered by health plan contracts which typically contract with third parties payors (such as insurance companies, prescription benefit management companies, governmental agencies, private employers, health maintenance organizations or other managed care providers) that agree to pay for all or a portion of a customer’s eligible prescription purchases and negotiate with us for reduced prescription rates. During fiscal 2006, the top five third party payors accounted for approximately 31.0% of our total sales, the largest of which represented 8.9% of our total sales. During fiscal 2006, Medicaid related sales were approximately 11.4% of our total sales, of which the largest single Medicaid payor was less than 3% of our total sales. Beginning January 2006, a significant amount of our Medicaid prescriptions moved to coverage under the new Medicare Part D plans. After considering this shift in payor, we expect Medicaid related sales to represent approximately 8% of total sales in fiscal 2007. Any significant loss of third-party payor business could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Competition

The retail drugstore industry is highly competitive. We compete with, among others, retail drugstore chains, independently owned drugstores, supermarkets, mass merchandisers, discount stores, dollar stores and mail order pharmacies. We compete on the basis of store location and convenient access, customer service, product selection and price. We believe continued consolidation of the drugstore industry, continued new store openings and increased mail order will further increase competitive pressures in the industry.

Marketing and Advertising

In fiscal 2006, marketing and advertising expense was $293.5 million, which was spent primarily on nationwide weekly circular advertising. We have implemented various programs that are designed to support our health and wellness vision and improve our image with customers by delivering upon our “With Us, It’s Personal” brand promise. These include health condition marketing platforms focused on specific health conditions, increased GNC presence through expanded locations and promotional activity, continuation of our Rite Aid Health and Beauty Expos, and marketing and merchandising strategies that

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capitalize on emerging beauty trends such as men’s grooming, spa products, proprietary cosmetics and skincare. We continue to implement programs that are specifically directed to our pharmacy business. These include promotions that provide incentives for customers that transfer their prescriptions to us, a card-based loyalty program for senior citizens called “Living More” that provides meaningful discounts and targeted newsletters and offers, direct marketing programs, comprehensive health condition management programs, and other educational materials to help customers with their healthcare decisions. We are creating a more inviting store environment for our Hispanic customers through tailored product assortments and bi-lingual signing and advertising in stores with large Hispanic customer bases.

Associates

We believe that our relationships with our associates are good. As of March 4, 2006, we had 70,200 associates, 12% of which were pharmacists, 47% of which were part-time and 38% of which were unionized. Associate satisfaction is critical to the success of our strategy. We have surveyed our associates to obtain feedback on various employment-related topics, including job satisfaction and their understanding of our core values and mission.

There is a national shortage of pharmacists. We have implemented various associate incentive plans in order to attract and retain qualified pharmacists, have added an on-boarding survey to find out how newly hired pharmacists are doing and have an advisory board made up entirely of associates that are pharmacists. We have also expanded our efforts in recruitment of pharmacists through an increase in the number of recruiters, a successful pharmacist intern program, improved relations with pharmacy schools and the development of an international recruiting effort.

Research and Development

We do not make significant expenditures for research and development.

Licenses, Trademarks and Patents

The Rite Aid name is our most significant trademark and the most important factor in marketing our stores and private brand products. We hold licenses to sell beer, wine and liquor, cigarettes and lottery tickets. As part of our strategic alliance with GNC we have a license to operate GNC “stores-within-Rite Aid-stores”. Additionally, we hold licenses granted to us by the Nevada Gaming Commission that allow us to place slot machines in our Nevada stores. We also hold licenses to operate our pharmacies and our distribution facilities. Together, these licenses are material to our operations.

Seasonality

We experience moderate seasonal fluctuations in our results of operations concentrated in the first and fourth fiscal quarter as the result of the concentration of the cough, cold and flu season and the holidays. We tailor certain front-end merchandise to capitalize on holidays and seasons. We increase our inventory levels during our third fiscal quarter in anticipation of the seasonal fluctuations described above. Our results of operations in the fourth and first fiscal quarters may fluctuate based upon the timing and severity of the cough, cold and flu season, both of which are unpredictable.

Regulation

Our business is subject to various federal and state regulations. For example, pursuant to the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (“OBRA”) and comparable state regulations, our pharmacists are required to offer counseling, without additional charge, to our customers about medication, dosage, delivery systems, common side effects and other information deemed significant by the pharmacists and may have a duty to warn customers regarding any potential adverse effects of a prescription drug if the warning could reduce or negate such effect.

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The appropriate state boards of pharmacy must license our pharmacies and pharmacists. Our pharmacies and distribution centers are also registered with the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration and are subject to Federal Drug Enforcement Agency regulations relative to our pharmacy operations, including regulations governing purchasing, storing and dispensing of controlled substances. Applicable licensing and registration requirements require our compliance with various state statutes, rules and/or regulations. If we were to violate any applicable statute, rule or regulation, our licenses and registrations could be suspended or revoked and we could be subject to fines or penalties.

In recent years, an increasing number of legislative proposals have been enacted, introduced or proposed in Congress and in some state legislatures that effect or would effect major changes in the healthcare system, either nationally or at the state level. The legislative initiatives include drug importation, changes in qualified participants and changes in reimbursement levels. Although we believe we are well positioned to respond to these developments, we cannot predict the long-term outcome or effect of legislation from these efforts.

Our pharmacy business is subject to patient privacy and other obligations, including corporate, pharmacy and associate responsibility imposed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. As a covered entity, we are required to implement privacy standards, train our associates on the permitted uses and disclosures of protected health information, provide a notice of privacy practice to our pharmacy customers and permit pharmacy customers to access and amend their records and receive an accounting of disclosures of protected health information. Failure to properly adhere to these requirements could result in the imposition of civil as well as criminal penalties.

We are also subject to laws governing our relationship with our associates, including minimum wage requirements, overtime and working conditions. Increases in the federal minimum wage rate, associate benefit costs or other costs related to associates could adversely affect our results of operations.

In addition, in connection with the ownership and operations of our stores, distribution centers and other sites, we are subject to laws and regulations relating to the protection of the environment  and health and safety matters, including those governing the management and disposal of hazardous substances and the cleanup of contaminated sites. Violations of or liabilities under these laws and regulations as a result of our current or former operations or historical activities at our sites, such as gasoline service stations and dry cleaners, could result in significant costs.

Corporate Governance and Internet Address

We recognize that good corporate governance is an important means of protecting the interests of our stockholders, associates, customers, and the community. We have closely monitored and implemented relevant legislative and regulatory corporate governance reforms, including provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“Sarbanes-Oxley”), the rules of the SEC interpreting and implementing Sarbanes-Oxley, and the corporate governance listing standards of the New York Stock Exchange.

Our corporate governance information and materials, including our Certificate of Incorporation, Bylaws, Corporate Governance Guidelines, the charters of our Audit Committee, Compensation Committee and Nominating and Governance Committee, our Code of Ethics for the Chief Executive Officer and Senior Financial Officers and our Code of Ethics and Business Conduct are posted on the corporate governance section of our website at www.riteaid.com and are available in print upon request to Rite Aid Corporation, 30 Hunter Lane, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania 17011, Attention: Corporate Secretary. Our Board will regularly review corporate governance developments and modify these materials and practices as warranted.

Our website also provides information on how to contact us and other items of interest to investors. We make available on our website, free of charge, our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and all amendments to these reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we file these reports with, or furnish to, the SEC.

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Item 1A.   Risk Factors

Factors Affecting our Future Prospects

Set forth below is a description of certain risk factors which we believe may be relevant to an understanding of us and our business. Securityholders are cautioned that these and other factors may affect future performance and cause actual results to differ from those which may, from time to time, be anticipated. See “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

Risks Related to Our Financial Condition

We are highly leveraged. Our substantial indebtedness could limit cash flow available for our operations and could adversely affect our ability to service debt or obtain additional financing if necessary.

We had, as of March 4, 2006, $3.1 billion of outstanding indebtedness and stockholders’ equity of $1,606.9 million. We also had additional borrowing capacity under our revolving credit facility of $1,100.3 million at that time, net of outstanding letters of credit of $115.7 million. Our debt obligations adversely affect our operations in a number of ways and while we believe we have adequate sources of liquidity to meet our anticipated requirements for working capital, debt service and capital expenditures through fiscal year 2007, there can be no assurance that our cash flow from operations will be sufficient to service our debt, which may require us to borrow additional funds for that purpose, restructure or otherwise refinance our debt. Our earnings were insufficient to cover fixed charges for fiscal 2006 and fiscal 2004 by $23.1 million and $2.6 million, respectively. Our ratio of earnings to fixed charges for fiscal 2005 was 1.15.

Our high level of indebtedness will continue to restrict our operations. Among other things, our indebtedness will:

·       limit our ability to obtain additional financing;

·       limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in the markets in which we compete;

·       place us at a competitive disadvantage relative to our competitors with less indebtedness;

·       render us more vulnerable to general adverse economic, regulatory and industry conditions; and

·       require us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow to service our debt.

Our ability to make payments on our debt depends upon our ability to substantially improve our operating performance, which is subject to general economic and competitive conditions and to financial, business and other factors, many of which we cannot control. If our cash flow from our operating activities is insufficient, we may take certain actions, including delaying or reducing capital or other expenditures, attempting to restructure or refinance our debt, selling assets or operations or seeking additional equity capital. We may be unable to take any of these actions on satisfactory terms or in a timely manner. Further, any of these actions may not be sufficient to allow us to service our  debt obligations or may have an adverse impact on our business. Our existing debt agreements limit our ability to take certain of these actions. Our failure to earn enough to pay our debts or to successfully undertake any of these actions could have a material adverse effect on us.

Borrowings under our senior secured credit facility and expenses related to the sale of our accounts receivable under our receivables securitization agreements are based upon variable rates of interest, which could result in higher expense in the event of increases in interest rates.

Approximately $534 million of our outstanding indebtedness as of March 4, 2006 bears an interest rate that varies depending upon LIBOR. If we borrow additional amounts under our senior credit facility, the interest rate on those borrowings will also vary depending upon LIBOR. Further, we pay ongoing

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program fees under our receivables securitization agreements that vary depending upon LIBOR. If LIBOR rises, the interest rates on outstanding debt and the program fees under our receivables securitization program will increase. Therefore an increase in LIBOR would increase our interest payment obligations under these outstanding loans, increase our receivables securitization program fee payments and have a negative effect on our cash flow and financial condition. We currently do not maintain any hedging contracts that would limit our exposure to variable rates of interest.

The covenants in our outstanding indebtedness impose restrictions that may limit our operating and financial flexibility.

The covenants in the instruments that govern our outstanding indebtedness limit our ability to:

·       incur liens and debt;

·       pay dividends;

·       make redemptions and repurchases of capital stock;

·       make loans and investments;

·       prepay, redeem or repurchase debt;

·       engage in mergers, consolidations, assets dispositions, sale-leaseback transactions and affiliate transactions;

·       change our business;

·       amend some of our debt and other material agreements;

·       issue and sell capital stock of subsidiaries;

·       restrict distributions from subsidiaries; and

·       grant negative pledges to other creditors.

In addition, if we have less than $100.0 million available under our revolving credit facility, we will be subject to certain financial covenant ratios. If we are unable to meet the terms of the financial covenants or if we breach any of these covenants, a default could result under one or more of these agreements. A default, if not waived by our lenders, could result in the acceleration of our outstanding indebtedness and cause our debt to become immediately due and payable. If acceleration occurs, we would not be able to repay our debt and it is unlikely that we would be able to borrow sufficient additional funds to refinance such debt. Even if new financing is made available to us, it may not be available on terms acceptable to us. If we obtain modifications of our agreements, or are required to obtain waivers of defaults, we may incur significant fees and transaction costs.

Risks Related to Our Operations

We need to continue to improve our operations in order to improve our financial condition, but our operations will not improve if we cannot continue to effectively implement our business strategy or if our strategy is negatively affected by general economic conditions.

We have not yet achieved the sales productivity level of our major competitors. We believe that improving the sales of existing stores is important to improving profitability and operating cash flow. If we are not successful in implementing our strategy, or if our strategy is not effective, we may not be able to improve our operations. In addition, any adverse change in general economic conditions or major industries can adversely affect drug benefit plans and reduce our pharmacy sales or can adversely affect

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consumer buying practices and reduce our sales of front-end products, and cause a decrease in our profitability. Failure to continue to improve operations or a decline in major industries or general economic conditions would adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows and our ability to make principal or interest payments on our debt.

Our new store and store relocation development program requires entering construction and development commitments and occasionally purchasing land that will not be utilized for several years which may limit our financial flexibility.

We will enter into significant construction and development commitments as part of our new store and store relocation development program. Also, we will occasionally make capital expenditures to acquire land that may not be used for several years. Even if there are significant negative economic or competitive developments in our industry, financial condition or the regions where we have made these commitments, we are obligated to fulfill these commitments. Further, if we subsequently dispose of the property that we acquire, we may receive less than our purchase price or the net book value of such property, which may result in financial loss.

We are dependent on our management team, and the loss of their services could have a material adverse effect on our business and the results of our operations or financial condition.

The success of our business is materially dependent upon the continued services of our executive management team. The loss of key personnel could have a material adverse effect on the results of our operations, financial condition or cash flows. Additionally, we cannot assure you that we will be able to attract or retain other skilled personnel in the future.

We are substantially dependent on a single supplier of pharmaceutical products to sell products to us on satisfactory terms. A disruption in this relationship may have a negative effect on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flow.

We obtain approximately 94% of the dollar value of our prescription drugs from a single supplier, McKesson, pursuant to a contract that runs through March 2009. Pharmacy sales represented approximately 63.2% of our total sales during fiscal 2006, and, therefore, our relationship with McKesson is important to us. Any significant disruptions in our relationship with McKesson would make it difficult for us to continue to operate our business until we executed a replacement strategy. There can be no assurance that we would be able to find a replacement supplier on a timely basis or that such supplier would be able to fulfill our demands on similar terms, which would have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Risks Related to Our Industry

The markets in which we operate are very competitive and further increases in competition could adversely affect us.

We face intense competition with local, regional and national companies, including other drugstore chains, independently owned drugstores, supermarkets, mass merchandisers, discount stores, dollar stores and mail order pharmacies. Our industry also faces growing competition from companies who import drugs directly from other countries, such as Canada. We may not be able to effectively compete against them because our existing or potential competitors may have financial and other resources that are superior to ours. In addition, we may be at a competitive disadvantage because we are more highly leveraged than our competitors. The ability of our stores to achieve profitability depends on their ability to achieve a critical mass of customers. We believe that the continued consolidation of the drugstore industry will further increase competitive pressures in the industry. As competition increases, a significant increase in general pricing pressures could occur, which would require us to increase our sales volume and to sell

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higher margin products and services in order to remain competitive. We cannot assure you that we will be able to continue effectively to compete in our markets or increase our sales volume in response to further increased competition.

Drug benefit plan sponsors and third party payors could change their plan eligibility criteria and further encourage or require the use of mail-order prescriptions which could decrease our sales and reduce our margins and have a material adverse effect on our business.

An adverse trend for drugstore retailing has been initiatives to contain rising healthcare costs leading to the rapid growth in mail-order prescription processors. These prescription distribution methods have grown in market share relative to drugstores as a result of the rapid rise in drug costs experienced in recent years and are predicted to continue to rise. Mail-order prescription distribution methods are perceived by employers and insurers as being less costly than traditional distribution methods and are being encouraged, and, in some cases, required, by third party pharmacy benefit managers, employers and unions that administer benefits. As a result, some labor unions and employers are requiring, and others may encourage or require, that their members or employees obtain medications from mail-order pharmacies which offer drug prescriptions at prices lower than we are able to offer.

Another adverse trend for drugstore retailing has been for drug benefit plan sponsors and third party payors to change their plan eligibility requirements resulting in fewer beneficiaries covered and a reduction in the number of prescriptions allowed.

Mail-order prescription distribution and drug benefit plan eligibility changes have negatively affected sales for traditional chain drug retailers, including us, in the last few years and we expect such negative effect to continue in the future. There can be no assurance that our efforts to offset the effects of mail order and eligibility changes will be successful.

The availability of pharmacy drugs is subject to governmental regulations.

The continued conversion of various prescription drugs to over-the-counter medications may reduce our pharmacy sales and customers may seek to purchase such medications at non-pharmacy stores. Also, if the rate at which new prescription drugs become available slows or if new prescription drugs that are introduced into the market fail to achieve popularity, our pharmacy sales may be adversely affected. The withdrawal of certain drugs from the market or concerns about the safety or effectiveness of certain drugs or negative publicity surrounding certain categories of drugs may also have a negative effect on our pharmacy sales or may cause shifts in our pharmacy or front-end product mix. For example, growth in late 2004 and 2005 was slowed by the negative publicity surrounding certain arthritis medications and other high-volume drugs, which adversely affected pharmacy sales.

Changes in third party reimbursement levels for prescription drugs could reduce our margins and have a material adverse effect on our business.

Sales of prescription drugs, as a percentage of sales, and the percentage of prescription sales reimbursed by third parties, have been increasing and we expect them to continue to increase. In fiscal 2006, sales of prescription drugs represented 63.2% of our sales and 93.9% of all of the prescription drugs that we sold were with third party payors. During fiscal 2006, the top five third-party payors accounted for approximately 31.0% of our total sales, the largest of which represented 8.9% of our total sales. In fiscal 2006, approximately 11.4% of our revenues were from state sponsored Medicaid agencies, the largest of which was less than 3% of our total sales. Beginning January 2006, a significant amount of our Medicaid related prescriptions moved to coverage under the new Medicare Part D plans. After considering this shift in payor, we expect Medicaid related sales to represent approximately 8% of total sales in fiscal 2007. Any significant loss of third-party payor business could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

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Third party payors could reduce the levels at which they will reimburse us for the prescription drugs that we provide to their members. Furthermore, the Medicare Part D program, which went into effect January 1, 2006, has reimbursement levels that are lower than the previous level of reimbursement. There have been a number of recent proposals and enactments by the Federal government and various states to reduce Medicaid reimbursement levels in response to budget problems, some of which propose to reduce reimbursement levels in the applicable states significantly, and we expect other similar proposals in the future. If third party payors reduce their reimbursement levels or if Medicare or state Medicaid programs cover prescription drugs at lower reimbursement levels, our margins on these sales would be reduced, and the profitability of our business and our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows could be adversely affected.

We are subject to governmental regulations, procedures and requirements; our noncompliance or a significant regulatory change could adversely affect our business, the results of our operations or our financial condition.

Our pharmacy business is subject to federal, state and local government laws and regulation. These include local registrations of pharmacies in the states where our pharmacies are located, applicable Medicare and Medicaid regulations and prohibitions against paid referrals of patients. Failure to properly adhere to these and other applicable regulations could result in the imposition of civil and criminal penalties including suspension of payments from government programs; loss of required government certifications; loss of authorizations to participate in or exclusion from government reimbursement programs, such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs; loss of licenses; significant fines or monetary penalties for anti-kickback law violations, submission of false claims or other failures to meet reimbursement program requirements and could adversely affect the continued operation of our business.

Our pharmacy business is subject to the patient privacy and other obligations including corporate, pharmacy and associate responsibility, imposed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. As a covered entity, we are required to implement privacy standards, train our associates on the permitted use and disclosures of protected health information, provide a notice of privacy practice to our pharmacy customers and permit pharmacy health customers to access and amend their records and receive an accounting of disclosures of protected health information. Failure to properly adhere to these requirements could result in the imposition of civil as well as criminal penalties.

Federal and state reform programs, such as healthcare reform and enforcement initiatives of federal and state governments may also affect our pharmacy business. These initiatives include:

·       proposals designed to significantly reduce spending on Medicare, Medicaid and other government programs;

·       changes in programs providing for reimbursement for the cost of prescription drugs by third party plans;

·       the Medicare Modernization Act;

·       increased scrutiny of, and litigation relating to, prescription drug manufacturers’ pricing and marketing pactices; and

·       regulatory changes relating to the approval process for prescription drugs.

These initiatives could lead to the enactment of, or changes to, federal regulations and state regulations that could adversely impact our prescription drug sales and, accordingly, our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows. It is uncertain at this time what additional healthcare reform initiatives, if any, will be implemented, or whether there will be other changes in the administration of governmental healthcare programs or interpretations of governmental policies or other changes affecting

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the healthcare system. Future healthcare or budget legislation or other changes, including those referenced above, may materially adversely impact our pharmacy sales.

Certain risks are inherent in providing pharmacy services; our insurance may not be adequate to cover any claims against us.

Pharmacies are exposed to risks inherent in the packaging and distribution of pharmaceuticals and other healthcare products, such as with respect to improper filling of prescriptions, labeling of prescriptions, adequacy of warnings and unintentional distribution of counterfeit drugs. In addition, federal and state laws that require our pharmacists to offer counseling, without additional charge, to their customers about medication, dosage, delivery systems, common side effects and other information the pharmacists deem significant can impact our business. Our pharmacists may also have a duty to warn customers regarding any potential negative effects of a prescription drug if the warning could reduce or negate these effects. Although we maintain professional liability and errors and omissions liability insurance, from time to time, claims result in the payment of significant amounts, some portions of which are not funded by insurance. We cannot assure you that the coverage limits under our insurance programs will be adequate to protect us against future claims, or that we will be able to maintain this insurance on acceptable terms in the future. Our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows may be adversely affected if in the future our insurance coverage proves to be inadequate or unavailable or there is an increase in liability for which we self-insure or we suffer reputational harm as a result of an error or omission.

We will not be able to compete effectively if we are unable to attract, hire and retain qualified pharmacists.

There is a nationwide shortage of qualified pharmacists. However, we may not be able to attract, hire and retain enough qualified pharmacists. This could adversely affect our operations.

We may be subject to significant liability should the consumption of any of our products cause injury, illness or death.

Products that we sell could become subject to contamination, product tampering, mislabeling or other damage requiring us to recall our private label products. In addition, errors in the dispensing and packaging of pharmaceuticals could lead to serious injury or death. Product liability claims may be asserted against us with respect to any of the products or pharmaceuticals we sell and we may be obligated to recall our private brand products. A product liability judgment against us or a product recall could have a material, adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Item 1B.   Unresolved SEC Staff Comments

None

Item 2.   Properties

As of March 4, 2006, we operated 3,323 retail drugstores. The overall average selling square feet of each store in our chain is 11,000 square feet. The overall average total square feet of each store in our chain is 12,800. The stores in the eastern part of the U.S. average 8,800 selling square feet per store (9,900 average total square feet per store). The stores in the southern part of the U.S. average 9,300 selling square feet per store (10,200 average total square feet per store). The stores in the central part of the U.S. average 9,100 selling square feet per store (10,000 average total square feet per store). The stores in the western part of the U.S. average 16,300 selling square feet per store (20,200 average total square feet per store).

Our new store prototype, which is being utilized in our new store and store relocation program, has an overall average selling square footage of 11,500 and an overall average total square feet of 14,500. The new

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store prototype in the eastern parts of the U.S. will average 10,200 square feet (13,000 average total square feet per store). The new store prototype in the western part of the U.S. will average 14,000 selling square feet (17,400 average total square feet per store).

The table below identifies the number of stores by state as of March 4, 2006:

 

Our stores have the following attributes at March 4, 2006:

 

We own our corporate headquarters, which is located in a 205,000 square foot building at 30 Hunter Lane, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania 17011. We lease a 100,000 square foot building near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for use by additional administrative personnel. We lease 3,093 of our operating drugstore facilities under non-cancelable leases, many of which have original terms of 10 to 22 years. In addition to minimum rental payments, which are set at competitive market rates, certain leases require additional payments based on sales volume, as well as reimbursement for taxes, maintenance and insurance. Most of our leases contain renewal options, some of which involve rent increases.

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We operate the following distribution centers and overflow storage locations, which we own or lease as indicated:

(1)          Overflow storage locations.

The original terms of the leases for our distribution centers range from five to 22 years. In addition to minimum rental payments, certain distribution centers require tax reimbursement, maintenance and insurance. Most leases contain renewal options, some of which involve rent increases. Although from time to time, we may be near capacity at some of our distribution facilities, particularly at our older facilities, we believe that the capacity of our facilities is adequate. Our strategic growth plan could require additional distribution capacity in the future.

We also own a 55,800 square foot ice cream manufacturing facility located in El Monte, California.

On a regular basis and as part of our normal business, we evaluate store performance and may reduce in size, close or relocate a store if the store is redundant, under performing or otherwise deemed unsuitable. When we reduce in size, close or relocate a store, we often continue to have leasing obligations or own the property. We attempt to sublease this space. As of March 4, 2006, we have 6,116,357 square feet of excess space, of which 4,148,653 square feet was subleased.

Item 3.   Legal Proceedings

We had been under a federal government investigation by the United States Attorney, involving various matters related to prior management’s business practices. We recorded an accrual of $20.0 million in fiscal 2003 in connection with this investigation. During 2006, this investigation concluded resulting in us not being required to pay any fine or penalty. Accordingly, the accrual of $20.0 million was reversed to zero in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006.

We are subject from time to time to various claims and lawsuits and governmental investigations arising in the ordinary course of business. Some of these suits purport or have been determined to be class actions and/or seek substantial damages. We believe these matters are adequately covered by insurance or, if not so covered, are without merit or are of such nature or involve amounts that would not have a material adverse effect on our financial conditions, results of operations or cash flows if decided adversely.

Item 4.   Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders

No matter was submitted to a vote of our security holders, through the solicitation of proxies or otherwise, during the fourth quarter of our fiscal year covered by this report.

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PART II

Item 5.                        Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuers Purchases of Equity Securities.

Our common stock is listed on the New York and Pacific Stock Exchanges under the symbol “RAD.” On April 21, 2006, we had approximately 24,842 shareholders of record. Quarterly high and low stock prices, based on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) composite transactions, are shown below.

 

We have not declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock since the third quarter of fiscal 2000 and we do not anticipate paying cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. Our senior secured credit facility and some of the indentures that govern our other outstanding indebtedness restrict our ability to pay dividends. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

During fiscal 2006, we redeemed all shares of our Series F preferred stock for $124.9 million.

Other than set forth above, we have not sold any unregistered equity securities during the period covered by this report, nor have we repurchased any equity securities during the period covered by this report.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Company certified to the NYSE on June 24, 2005 that she was not aware of any violation by the Company of the NYSE’s corporate governance listing standards.

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Item 6.                        Selected Financial Data

The following selected financial data should be read in conjunction with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and the audited consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing on pages 46-88.

(1)             Costs of goods sold and selling, general and administrative expenses for the fiscal years ended February 26, 2005, February 28, 2004, March 1, 2003 and March 2, 2002 have been reclassified to conform to current year’s presentation of occupancy costs in selling, general and administrative expenses and warehousing and outbound freight costs in costs of goods sold. See Note 1 of the notes to the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further discussion.

(2)             Includes stock-based compensation expense (benefit). Stock-based compensation expense for the fiscal years ended March 4, 2006, February 26, 2005 and February 28, 2004 was determined using the fair value method set forth in Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (“SFAS”) No. 123, “Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation”. Stock-based compensation expense (benefit) for the fiscal years ended March 1, 2003 and March 2, 2002 was determined using the intrinsic method set forth in Accounting Principles Board Opinion No. 25, “Accounting for Stock Issued to Employees”.

(3)             Effective March 3, 2002 we adopted Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (“SFAS”) No. 142, “Goodwill and Intangible Assets”, which specifies that goodwill and indefinite life intangibles shall no longer be amortized. Accordingly, no goodwill

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amortization expense was recorded for the fiscal years ended March 4, 2006, February 26, 2005, February 28, 2004, and March 1, 2003.

(4)             Total debt included capital lease obligations of $178.2 million, $168.3 million, $183.2 million, $176.2 million and $182.6 million, as of March 4, 2006, February 26, 2005, February 28, 2004, March 1, 2003 and March 2, 2002, respectively.

(5)             Redeemable preferred stock was included in “Other Non-current liabilities” as of March 4, 2006, February 26, 2005 and February 28, 2004, respectively.

(6)             Diluted weighted average shares for the years ended March 4, 2006 and February 26, 2005 included the impact of stock options, as calculated under the treasury stock method and convertible debt and preferred stock, as calculated under the if-converted method. Diluted weighted average shares for the year ended February 28, 2004 included the impact of stock options, as calculated under the treasury stock method.

Item 7.                        Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Overview

Net income for fiscal 2006 was $1,273.0 million, or $1.89 per diluted share, compared to $302.5 million, or $0.47 per diluted share in fiscal 2005, and $83.4 million, or $0.11 per diluted share in fiscal 2004. Our operating results are described in detail in the Results of Operations and Liquidity and Capital Resources sections of this Item 7. However, some of the key factors that impacted our results in fiscal 2006, 2005, and 2004 are summarized as follows:

Income Tax Valuation Allowance Adjustment.   Net income included a benefit of $1,231.1 million, or $1.90 per diluted share during fiscal 2006 and $179.5 million, or $0.32 per diluted share during fiscal 2005 related to the recognition of net deferred tax assets as a result of the release of a tax valuation allowance. Based upon a review of a number of factors, including historical operating performance and our expectation that we can generate sustainable consolidated taxable income for the foreseeable future, we concluded at the end of fiscal 2006 that the majority of the net deferred tax assets would be utilized. Thus, pursuant to Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (“SFAS”) No. 109, we recorded a tax benefit during fiscal 2006 releasing a majority of the remaining valuation allowance, resulting in a non-cash increase in net income of $1,231.1 million. Based upon the then available factors at the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005, we recorded a tax benefit for a portion of our net deferred tax assets by releasing a portion of our valuation allowance, resulting in a non-cash increase in net income of $179.5 million during fiscal 2005. As of March 4, 2006, we maintain a valuation allowance of $259.6 million against remaining net deferred tax assets.

Sales Trends.   Our revenue growth for fiscal 2006 compared to fiscal 2005 was 2.7% and for fiscal 2005 compared to fiscal 2004 was 1.3%. Factors affecting our growth are discussed more thoroughly in the Results of Operations section of this Item 7. Significant factors negatively impacting our revenue were customer concerns over the safety of certain categories of drugs, changes in various states’ Medicaid coverages, a higher level of prescriptions using generic drugs and lower reimbursement rates, including the new Medicare Part D program. Another significant factor negatively effecting our revenue growth was the continuing penetration of mail order prescription programs, particularly the mandatory mail program that the United Auto Workers implemented beginning January 2004. Additionally, our revenue growth was negatively effected by difficult comparisons to prior year revenues for our stores in Southern California that benefited from the effects of a strike at several Southern California grocery chains that ended March 2004. As described in the Strategy section of Item 1 of this Form 10-K, we are taking steps to offset these negative factors by working to increase sales at our existing stores through improved customer service and developing new and relocated stores in our strongest markets. Compared to the prior year, our revenue declined by 0.5% in the first quarter and grew 0.2%, 0.9%, and 9.9% in the second, third and fourth quarters, respectively. Revenue growth in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 was impacted by an extra week, as fiscal 2006 was a fifty-three week year.  The impact of this fifty-third week was 7.9%. However, we expect our revenue results to continue to face significant pressures from the existing competitive environment.

Hurricane Katrina.   On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana and proceeded to move through Mississippi and Alabama, causing one of the worst natural disasters in the

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history of the United States. As of March 4, 2006, we had 16 stores that remained closed. We are still assessing whether to rebuild or re-open these stores, and do not expect these stores to be re-opened or rebuilt until sometime in fiscal 2007 or after.

During fiscal 2006, we incurred costs and damages related to Hurricane Katrina of $25.4 million. These costs and damages included the write-off of inventory and long-lived assets at net book value, relief and other payments to associates and other clean-up costs. In addition, we incurred $1.2 million of costs relating to the major remodeling and reconstruction of certain of the impacted stores. We maintain insurance coverage which provides for reimbursement from losses resulting from property damage, including flood, loss of product and business interruption. The insurance coverage is for current replacement value, less certain deductible amounts depending on the nature of the loss and number of occurances.

As of March 4, 2006, we received advance payments of $30.9 million from our insurance carriers. The excess of advance payments over the amounts written off of $5.5 million represents a deferred gain, and was included in other non-current liabilities. The $1.2 million of costs relating to the major remodeling and reconstruction of certain of the impacted stores was included in construction in progress.

The impact of Hurricane Katrina on our sales and operating results for fiscal 2006 was not material.

Debt Refinancing and Receivables Securitization.   In fiscal years 2006, 2005 and 2004, we took several steps to improve our leverage, extend the terms of a substantial amount of our debt, lower our interest rates and obtain more flexibility. In fiscal 2006, we amended our senior secured credit facility to consist solely of a $1.75 billion revolving credit facility, paid at maturity the remaining outstanding principal on two existing notes and completed the early redemption of another existing note. As a result of amending our senior secured credit facility and the early redemption of an existing note, we recorded a loss on debt modifications of $9.2 million. In fiscal 2005, we replaced our senior secured credit facility with a new credit facility, entered into receivable securitization agreements, issued new senior secured notes, and repurchased portions of several existing notes prior to maturity. As a result of entering into the new senior secured credit facility and the receivables securitization agreements, we recorded a loss on debt modifications of $20.0 million, offset by net gains of $0.8 million related to the note repurchases described above. In fiscal 2004, we replaced our then existing senior secured credit facility with a new senior secured credit facility, issued new senior notes and repurchased portions of several existing notes prior to maturity. These activities resulted in a loss of $43.2 million related to the termination of the old senior secured credit facility, offset by net gains of $7.9 million related to the note repurchases described above. These steps and our operating cash flow have enabled us to reduce our debt from $3.9 billion as of March 1, 2003 to $3.1 billion as of March 4, 2006. These transactions are discussed in more detail in the Liquidity and Capital Resources section below.

Dilutive Equity Issuances.   At March 4, 2006, 527.7 million shares of common stock were outstanding and an additional 213.2 million shares of common stock were issuable related to outstanding stock options, convertible notes and preferred stock.

Our 213.2 million shares of potentially issuable common stock consist of the following:

(Shares in thousands)

(a)           The exercise of these options would provide cash of $296.2 million

(b)          The conversion of these notes to equity would reduce the principal amount of debt by $250.0 million

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Results of Operations

Revenue and Other Operating Data