ISSAQUAH, Wash., Feb. 06, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Costco Wholesale Corporation (“Costco” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: COST) today reported net sales of $10.71 billion for the retail month of January, the four weeks ended February 3, 2019, an increase of 8.0 percent from $9.92 billion last year.
For the twenty-two weeks ended February 3, 2019, the Company reported net sales of $63.70 billion, an increase of 9.3 percent from $58.30 billion during the similar period last year.
Lunar New Year/Chinese New Year will occur in February same as last year; however, 11 days earlier this year. The holiday shift favorably impacted January’s Other International sales by approximately 4.5% and Total Company sales approximately 0.5%. February sales will be adversely impacted accordingly.
Comparable sales were as follows:
| 4 Weeks | 22 Weeks | ||||
| U.S. | 6.6% | 9.4% | |||
| Canada | -2.9% | 1.2% | |||
| Other International | 6.5% | 3.8% | |||
| Total Company | 5.2% | 7.4% | |||
| E-commerce | 22.1% | 27.1% | |||
Comparable sales excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices, foreign exchange and a previously disclosed accounting change concerning revenue recognition (ASC 606) were as follows:
| 4 Weeks | 22 Weeks | ||||
| U.S. | 7.3% | 8.0% | |||
| Canada | 4.6% | 5.8% | |||
| Other International | 11.2% | 6.7% | |||
| Total Company | 7.4% | 7.5% | |||
| E-commerce | 24.0% | 26.6% | |||
Additional discussion of these results is available in a pre-recorded telephone message. It can be accessed by dialing 1-855-859-2056 (conference ID 4178354). This message will be available through 5:00 p.m. (PT) on Wednesday, February 13, 2019.
Costco currently operates 768 warehouses, including 533 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 100 in Canada, 39 in Mexico, 28 in the United Kingdom, 26 in Japan, 15 in Korea, 13 in Taiwan, 10 in Australia, two in Spain, and one each in Iceland and France. Costco also operates e-commerce sites in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Korea, and Taiwan.
Certain statements contained in this document and the pre-recorded telephone message constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For these purposes, forward-looking statements are statements that address activities, events, conditions or developments that the Company expects or anticipates may occur in the future. In some cases forward-looking statements can be identified because they contain words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “likely,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would,” or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events, results or performance to differ materially from those indicated by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, domestic and international economic conditions, including exchange rates, the effects of competition and regulation, uncertainties in the financial markets, consumer and small business spending patterns and debt levels, breaches of security or privacy of member or business information, conditions affecting the acquisition, development, ownership or use of real estate, capital spending, actions of vendors, rising costs associated with employees (generally including health care costs), energy and certain commodities, geopolitical conditions (including tariffs), the ability to remediate material weaknesses in internal control, and other risks identified from time to time in the Company’s public statements and reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and the Company does not undertake to update these statements, except as required by law.
CONTACTS:
Costco Wholesale Corporation
Bob Nelson, 425/313-8255
David Sherwood, 425/313-8239
Josh Dahmen, 425/313-8254