After taking a step to shrink VillageMD's bodily footprint, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (Nasdaq: WBA) seems to be doubling down on its resolution.

“Now we have no plans to proceed investing in brick-and-mortar main care practices,” US Healthcare President Mary Langowski stated Thursday in the course of the firm's third-quarter earnings name.

VillageMD is a big main care supplier centered on house and community-based care.

In 2020, Walgreens backed the corporate with an funding of greater than $1 billion. Over the course of assorted investments, Walgreens has put greater than $6 billion into VillageMD.

In March, Walgreens introduced plans to shut 160 VillageMD clinics, a transfer the corporate referred to as prioritizing “density of their highest-opportunity markets.”

VillageMD additionally contains Summit Well being-CityMD, which the corporate acquired in 2023.

“We imagine in the way forward for these firms and intend to stay an investor and accomplice,” Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth stated on the decision. “However as a part of our continued concentrate on worth creation for WBA, we’re working with management on an endpoint to rapidly unlock liquidity, improve choices and place it for extra development.”

In the course of the name, Langowski was additionally fast to level out that the corporate hasn't misplaced its enthusiasm for value-based care.

“We imagine strongly … in value-based care, however we additionally imagine in VillageMD and we imagine in these firms and payers imagine in these firms and customers, fairly frankly, love getting their care from a majority of these firms,” she stated. “However what now we have said, and I’ll say it once more, is that we are going to proceed to be a accomplice with VillageMD in an ongoing method. We are going to proceed to be an investor. What we actually wish to do is spend money on capital-light companies to be a broader accomplice throughout the trade. With a variety of suppliers and with a variety of payers and a variety of pharmaceutical producers.”

General, Walgreens' U.S. healthcare section had third-quarter income of $2.1 billion, up 7.6% year-over-year. VillageMD had income of $1.6 billion, up 7% year-over-year.

“The rise was pushed by development in full-risk lives and service-related advantages, partially offset by the affect of clinic closures,” stated Manmohan Mahajan, Walgreens International Chief Monetary Officer.

Wentworth additionally shared the corporate's plans to shut shops at a number of Walgreens areas within the US

“We’re within the means of finishing a multifactor retailer footprint optimization program that we count on will embrace the closure of a good portion of those underperforming shops over the subsequent three years,” he stated. “Plans to finalize this quantity are underway and we’ll replace you in the end. For the rest of this group, we’re taking motion to return them to profitability and supply an improved buyer expertise. We are going to think about further closures if efficiency doesn’t enhance, which incorporates exterior components akin to reimbursement charges.”