Costco Wholesale Corp. announced that fourth quarter sales, which ended August 31, grew by 1 per cent to reach $35 billion and by 3 per cent for the year totaling $113.7 billion.
In regards to comparable sales, Costco saw an increase of 6 per cent for the quarter and 7 per cent for the year in both the U.S. and international segments.
On the other hand, net sales decreased by 1 per cent to $8.7 billion for the four-week retail month that ended on August 30. Costco attributed the drop to the calendar shift of the Labor Day holiday in the U.S. and Canada by one week and the Chuseok holiday in Korea by two weeks.
According to Jeffrey Elliott, AVP, financial planning and investor relations, Costco estimates the negative impact from the shifts and sales in August were just under minus 1 per cent.
Costco continues to expand to this day, with six new locations that recently opened in Japan, Taiwan, Korea and the United Kingdom.
