Costco Sees 6% U.S. November Comps Increase

Costco Wholesale Corporation saw November net sales increase 13% to $5.72 billion from $5.04 billion in the same four-week period last year.
For the first thirteen weeks of its reporting period ended December 2, 2007, the company reported net sales of $16.98 billion, an increase of 12 percent from $15.20 billion during the similar thirteen-week period last year.

Comparable sales for the four-week and thirteen-week periods ended December 2, 2007, were as follows:

                              4 Weeks       13 Weeks

                              ——-       ———

          US                     6%             6%

          International         21%            17%

          Total Company          9%             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 35% year-over-year for the month of November. Excluding gasoline price inflation, U.S. comparable sales in November would have been 4%. In addition, significantly stronger foreign exchange rates, particularly in Canada and the U.K., positively impacted November's international comparable sales results. On a local currency basis, international comparable sales increased 7% in November.