5 Weeks 18 Weeks
------- --------
US 5% 5%
International 16% 17%
Total Company 7% 8%
======= ========
The U.S. comparable sales figure includes, among other things, the effect
of recent gasoline price inflation, with the average sales price per gallon
of gasoline up 27% for the five-week month of December. Excluding gasoline
price inflation, U.S. comparable sales would have been up 4%. In addition,
foreign exchange rates, particularly in Canada and the U.K., positively
impacted international comparable sales results. On a local currency
basis, international comparable sales increased 5% in December.
Costco currently operates 529 warehouses, including 389 in the United
States and Puerto Rico, 75 in Canada, 19 in the United Kingdom, five in
Korea, five in Taiwan, six 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 20
to 23 new warehouses (including the relocation of four to five warehouses
to larger and better-located facilities) prior to the end of its 2008
fiscal year on August 31, 2008.
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 30435901). This recorded message will be available today
through 5:00 p.m. (PT) on Friday, January 11, 2008.
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.
Contact Information: CONTACTS: Costco Wholesale Corporation Richard Galanti, 425/313-8203 Bob Nelson, 425/313-8255 Jeff Elliott, 425/313-8264