Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Lisa Gill - J.P. Morgan.
Lisa Gill - J.P. Morgan
Jeff, if we could start, I think that you talked about margins overall for drug distribution being up at least 10 basis points. I know that's a broad statement, but if we were to assume that for the full year that you're up 10 basis points, that would assume that the fourth quarter would be down year-over-year something like 15 basis points. Are you saying that the fourth quarter is expected to be less robust than the third quarter? I'm just trying to understand that.
And then secondly, John, can you maybe just give us some comment around the Pfizer-Wyeth deal, your expectations there? Last week Amerisource talked about the fact that they have signed a fee for service agreement with Pfizer and I'm just wondering if McKesson has done something similar.
Jeffrey C. Campbell
Great. Well, let me start, Lisa, and that's a good question to help me clarify on the quarterly volatility that we always struggle with a little bit in terms of communicating about our business.
So just to remind everyone, when we started the year we talked about getting margin expansion for the full fiscal year in our Distribution Solutions segment in sort of the mid single-digit kind of basis point range. And so our optimism today in seeing that in excess of 10 basis points, I think, is a real tribute to how strongly we feel that business is performing in the current economic climate.
Now there always is some quarterly volatility, so one of the things I mentioned in my remarks is that we hold out of the March quarter this year into our December quarter some of the compensation we get from branded manufacturers. There are also a number of other timing issues last year that last year drove a strong March quarter and a weaker December quarter. So you really need to look at this on a rolling 12-month basis, and it's on that basis that we feel pretty good about the guidance we gave for that period and the momentum we have in the business.
You're correct that mathematically that does mean that the margin may well be down a little bit in the March quarter. That's not reflective of any weakening of the business; it's just the variable nature of the timing quarter to quarter.
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