CVS 2003 Annual Report Download - page 7

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(5)
In November, we watched Congress pass a long-awaited prescription drug law that goes into effect in 2006.
Many of its details have yet to be worked out, and we will monitor them closely. However, we believe that
this kind of legislation will ultimately be good for senior citizens, good for this country’s uninsured, and good
for CVS. IMS Health predicts that a Medicare prescription benefit would add 75–100 million incremental
prescriptions to the market annually.
BUILDING ON A STRONG Another piece of federal legislation, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, has garnered a great deal of attention of late.
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE Enacted to improve corporate governance standards, you may be wondering what impact it will have on
TRADITION CVS. Thanks to a strong corporate governance tradition, built over our 40 years in business, CVS has had to
make very few changes. In fact, we are largely formalizing and documenting already existing practices. As
for our Board of Directors, it has always included talented leaders from corporate America, academia, and
the non-profit world. Among them, I want to extend a special thanks to Ivan Seidenberg and Eugene
Applebaum. Both men served faithfully for many years and retired following our last annual meeting.
In closing, I want to thank long-standing shareholders for the continued confidence you place in our efforts.
If you’re new to CVS, then you’ve become a shareholder during a most exciting period. We are a company
with a long history, to be sure, but “CVS easy” and the other initiatives I’ve described above demonstrate
that we are not encumbered by old ways or old ideas. The eagerness to challenge ourselves and our
passion for extraordinary customer service drive everything we do. I believe that CVS has the talent, the
focus, and the financial strength to create new growth opportunities for years to come.
Thomas M. Ryan
Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer
February 12, 2004
’99 ’00 ’01 ’02 ’03
58.7
62.7
66.1
67.6
68.8
Rx Sales/Total Sales (In percent
)
’99 ’00 ’01 ’02 ’03
4.0
4.1
4.3
4.6
5.0
Inventory Turns
Inventory
turns improved
7 percent on
average for five
consecutive
years, making
CVS #1 among
national chains.