ISSAQUAH, WA --
(MARKET WIRE)
-- January 04, 2007 -- Costco Wholesale Corporation ("Costco")
(NASDAQ:
COST) today reported net sales of $7.24 billion for the month of
December, the five weeks ended December 31, 2006, an increase of 14 percent
from $6.37 billion in the same five-week period last year.
For the first eighteen weeks of its reporting period ended December 31,
2006, the Company reported net sales of $22.23 billion, an increase of 10
percent from $20.22 billion during the similar eighteen-week period of the
prior year.
Comparable sales for the five-week and eighteen-week periods ended December
31, 2006, were as follows:
5 Weeks 18 Weeks
--------- ---------
US 9% 5%
International 10% 11%
Total Company 9% 6%
========= =========
This year's five-week period included 34 days of sales compared to 33 days
last year, reflecting the timing of the New Year's holiday. This shift
impacted this year's total company comparable sales positively by
approximately three percent.
Additional discussion of these sales results is available on a pre-recorded
telephone message. You can access the recording by dialing 1-800-642-1687
(conference ID 5567691). This recorded message will be available today
through 5:00 p.m. (PT) on Friday, January 5, 2007.
Costco currently operates 504 warehouses, including 371 in the United
States and Puerto Rico, 70 in Canada, 19 in the United Kingdom, five in
Korea, four in Taiwan, five in Japan and 30 in Mexico. The Company also
operates Costco Online, an electronic commerce web site, at www.costco.com
and at www.costco.ca in Canada. The Company plans to open an additional
sixteen to eighteen new warehouses prior to the end of its 52-week 2007
fiscal year ending on September 2, 2007.
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, consumer and small business spending patterns
and debt levels, conditions affecting the acquisition, development,
ownership or use of real estate, actions of vendors, rising costs
associated with employees (including health care and workers' compensation
costs), rising costs associated with the acquisition of merchandise
(including the direct and indirect effects of the rising cost of
petroleum-based products and fuel and energy costs), 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.
CONTACTS:
Costco Wholesale Corporation
Richard Galanti, 425/313-8203
Bob Nelson, 425/313-8255
Jeff Elliott, 425/313-8264
SOURCE: Costco