ISSAQUAH, Wash., Feb. 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Costco Wholesale Corporation (“Costco” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq:COST) today reported net sales of $12.24 billion for the month of January, the five weeks ended February 4, 2018, an increase of 8.4 percent from $11.29 billion last year.

For the first twenty-two weeks of fiscal year 2018, the Company reported net sales of $58.30 billion, an increase of 11.6 percent from $52.26 billion last year.

This year’s five-week January retail-month had one fewer shopping day versus last year, due to the calendar shift of New Year’s Day. This negatively impacted total and comparable January sales by approximately 3.0%; the twenty-two-week fiscal year to date was not impacted. Additionally, Lunar New Year/Chinese New Year will occur in February this year (as compared to January last year), negatively impacting January sales by approximately 3.5% for Other International and 0.5% for Total Company.

Comparable sales were as follows:

Comparable sales excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange were as follows:

Additional discussion of these results is available in a pre-recorded telephone message. The recording can be accessed by dialing 1-855-859-2056 (conference ID 73993135). This message will be available through 5:00 p.m. (PT) on Wednesday, February 14, 2018.

Costco currently operates 746 warehouses, including 518 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 98 in Canada, 37 in Mexico, 28 in the United Kingdom, 26 in Japan, 13 in Korea, 13 in Taiwan, nine in Australia, two in Spain, one in Iceland and one in France. Costco also operates electronic commerce web 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.  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, 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.

Costco Wholesale Corporation