Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports August Sales Results

ISSAQUAH, Wash., Aug. 30, 2017 -- Costco Wholesale Corporation (“Costco” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq:COST) today reported net sales of $9.8 billion for the month of August, the four weeks ended August 27, 2017, an increase of 10.0 percent from $8.9 billion during the similar period last year.

For the first 52 weeks of its 53-week fiscal year ended August 27, 2017, the Company reported net sales of $123.5 billion, an increase of 6.4 percent from $116.1 billion during the 52-week 2016 fiscal year.

Comparable sales were as follows:

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

In addition, comparable e-commerce sales (US, CA, UK, MX, KO & TW) for the four-week retail month of August ended August 27, 2017, were up 26% and are included in the respective segments reported above.

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 92707633). This message will be available today through 5:00 p.m. (PT) on Wednesday, September 6, 2017.

Costco opened its ninth warehouse in Australia today and will open its 26^th warehouse in Japan later this week. The Company will end its fiscal year on September 3^rd with 741 warehouses in operation, including 514 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 97 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.

The Company plans to report its operating results for the 53-week fiscal year ending September 3, 2017, along with its September sales results for the five weeks ending October 1, 2017, on October 5, 2017. A conference call to discuss these results is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. (PT), that day, and will be available via webcast on www.costco.com (click on Investor Relations and “webcasts”).

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 we do not undertake to update these statements, except as required by law.

CONTACTS:
Costco Wholesale Corporation
Richard Galanti, 425/313-8203
Bob Nelson, 425/313-8255
David Sherwood, 425/313-8239