Front-end sales were down 1.3 percent and pharmacy sales were down 4.7 percent on a same-store basis for the five-week February period that ended Saturday, Rite Aid said.

But the prescription count rose 0.3 percent in the monthly period at comparable stores, the company said. The count is the total number of filled prescriptions - and includes flu shots - at comparable stores, Rite Aid said.

Rite Aid has recorded nine consecutive quarters of prescription count growth, it said.

Sales for the 52-week period that ended Saturday were down 0.3 percent in the same-store comparison. Front-end sales were up 1.4 percent while pharmacy sales were down 1 percent, Rite Aid said.

Total drugstore sales for the year were down 0.9 percent to about $25.3 billion compared with about $25.5 billion in the year-ago period, the company said. Rite Aid operates fewer stores now than it did a year ago, it said.

Shares of the company, which is one of the nation’s largest drug store chains with more than 4,600 stores, are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol RAD.