Costco Wholesale Corporation reported an 11% increase in net sales for the four weeks of fiscal January to $5.11 billion from $4.62 billion in the same four-week period last year.
For the first twenty-two weeks of its reporting period ended February 3, 2008, the company reported net sales of $29.64 billion, an increase of 11% from $26.65 billion during the similar twenty-two-week period last year.
Comparable sales for the four-week and twenty-two-week periods ended February 3, 2008, were as follows:
4 Weeks 22 Weeks
——— ———-
US 5% 5%
International 19% 17%
Total Company 7% 8%
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The U.S. comparable sales figure includes, among other things, the effect of gasoline price inflation, with the average sales price per gallon of gasoline up 31% for the four-week month of January, as compared to the year-earlier January. Excluding gasoline price inflation, U.S. comparable sales would have been up 3%. In addition, foreign exchange rates, primarily in Canada, positively impacted international comparable sales results. On a local currency basis, international comparable sales increased 9% in January.
