ISSAQUAH, WA, Feb 08, 2007 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX News Network) -- Costco Wholesale Corporation ("Costco") (NASDAQ: COST) today reported
net sales of $5.57 billion for the month of January, the five weeks
ended February 4, 2007, an increase of 7 percent from $5.21 billion
in the same five-week period last year.
For the first twenty-three weeks of its reporting period ended
February 4, 2007, the Company reported net sales of $27.80 billion,
an increase of 9 percent from $25.43 billion during the similar
twenty-three-week period of the prior year.
Comparable sales for the five-week and twenty-three-week periods
ended February 4, 2007, were as follows:
5 Weeks 23 Weeks
----------- -----------
US 3% 4%
International 0% 8%
Total Company 2% 5%
=========== ===========
This year's five-week period included one less day than last year,
reflecting the timing of the New Year's holiday. This shift
negatively impacted this year's comparable sales by approximately 3
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 5556940). This recorded
message will be available today through 5:00 p.m. (PT) on Friday,
February 9, 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 seventeen new warehouses, including the
relocation of one warehouse to a larger and better-located facility,
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 those 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