Costco Posts 8% Increase in April Comps

Costco Wholesale Corporation reported net sales of $5.54 billion for the month of April, an increase of 12% from $4.94 billion last year.
For the first thirty-five weeks of its reporting period ended May 4, 2008, the company reported net sales of $46.88 billion, an increase of 12% from $41.90 billion during the similar thirty-five-week period last year.

Comparable sales for the four-week and thirty-five-week periods ended May 4, 2008, were as follows:

                                       4 Weeks           35 Weeks

                                    ————–    ————–

             US                           7%                5%

             International               14%               17%

             Total Company                8%                8%

                                    ==============    ==============

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 17% for the four-week month of April, as compared to the year-earlier April. Excluding gasoline price inflation, U.S. comparable sales would have been up 5%. In addition, foreign exchange rates, primarily in Canada, positively impacted international comparable sales results. On a local currency basis, international comparable sales increased 6% in April.