Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports August Sales Results

ISSAQUAH, Wash., Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Costco Wholesale Corporation (“Costco” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: COST) today reported net sales of $18.42 billion for the retail month of August, the four weeks ended August 27, 2023, an increase of 5.0 percent from $17.55 billion last year.

For the first 52 weeks of its 53-week fiscal year ended August 27, 2023, the Company reported net sales of $232.95 billion, an increase of 4.6 percent from $222.70 billion during the similar period last year.

Comparable sales were as follows:

	4 Weeks		52 Weeks
U.S.	2.8%		3.3%
Canada	3.0%		1.6%
Other International	7.3%		3.0%
Total Company	3.4%		3.0%
E-commerce	-2.5%		-5.9%

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

	4 Weeks		52 Weeks
U.S.	3.2%		4.2%
Canada	7.5%		8.0%
Other International	5.4%		7.9%
Total Company	4.1%		5.2%
E-commerce	-2.2%		-4.9%

Additional discussion of these results is available in a pre-recorded message. It can be accessed by dialing 1-888-815-0424 or by visiting investor.costco.com (click on “Events & Presentations”). This message will be available through 5:00 p.m. (PT) on Wednesday, September 6, 2023.

Costco currently operates 861 warehouses, including 591 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 107 in Canada, 40 in Mexico, 33 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 18 in Korea, 15 in Australia, 14 in Taiwan, five in China, four in Spain, two in France, and one each in Iceland, New Zealand and Sweden. Costco also operates e-commerce sites in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia.

Certain statements contained in this document and the pre-recorded 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,” “likely,” “may,” “might,” “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, inflation or deflation, 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 and the Ukraine conflict), the ability to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, regulatory and other impacts related to climate change, public-health related factors, 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 Richard Galanti, 425/313-8203 David Sherwood, 425/313-8239 Josh Dahmen, 425/313-8254