Walgreen Co. says its fiscal second-quarter earnings climbed 10 percent, boosted in part by prescription sales growth and a later onset to the cold and flu season that helped sales.

The Deerfield, Ill., company is the largest drugstore operator in the United States. It says net income rose to $739 million, or 80 cents per share, in the quarter that ended Feb. 28. That compares with earnings of $669 million, or 68 cents per share, in the previous year's quarter.

Revenue climbed 9 percent to $18.5 billion. Prescription sales at stores open more than a year climbed 4 percent.

FactSet says analysts expected a profit of 80 cents per share on revenue of $18.39 billion.

Walgreen ran 7,690 drugstores nationally as of Feb. 28.