4 Weeks 16 Weeks 52 Weeks
------- -------- --------
US -4% -6% -2%
International +3% -3% -8%
Total Company -2% -5% -4%
======= ======== ========
Comparable sales for the four-week, 16-week and 52-week periods, excluding
the negative impacts from gasoline deflation and foreign exchange
(primarily in Canada, the United Kingdom and Korea), were as follows:
4 Weeks 16 Weeks 52 Weeks
------- -------- --------
US 0% -1% +1%
International +7% +7% +7%
Total Company +2% +1% +3%
======= ======== ========
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 75874599). This recorded message will be available today
through 5:00 p.m. (PT) on Friday, September 4, 2009.
The Company plans to release its operating results for the fourth quarter
(16 weeks) and for the fiscal year (52 weeks) ended August 30, 2009, on
October 7, 2009. The retail sales results for the month of September will
also be announced on that date. A conference call to discus these results
is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. (PT) that day and will be available via webcast
on www.costco.com (click on Investor Relations and "webcasts").
Costco ended its 52-week fiscal year on August 30, 2009 with 559 warehouses
in operation, including 406 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 77 in
Canada, 21 in the United Kingdom, seven in Korea, six in Taiwan, nine in
Japan, 32 in Mexico and one in Australia. 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 seven to
eight new warehouses (including the relocation of one to two warehouses to
larger and better-located facilities) in the first four months of fiscal
2010, prior to the end of calendar 2009.
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, 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