September 25, 2020
Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2020 Operating Results
Costco Wholesale Corporation today announced its operating results for the 16-week fourth quarter and the 52-week fiscal year, ended August 30, 2020.
Net sales for the quarter increased 12.5 percent, to $52.28 billion from $46.45 billion last year. Net sales for the fiscal year increased 9.3 percent, to $163.22 billion from $149.35 billion last year.
Comparable sales for the fourth quarter and the fiscal year were as follows:
| 16 Weeks | 16 Weeks | 52 Weeks | 52 Weeks | |||||||
| Adjusted* | Adjusted* | |||||||||
| US | 11.0 percent | 13.6 percent | 8.1 percent | 9.2 percent | ||||||
| Canada | 9.1 percent | 12.6 percent | 5.0 percent | 7.4 percent | ||||||
| Other International | 16.1 percent | 18.8 percent | 8.9 percent | 11.2 percent | ||||||
| Total Company | 11.4 percent | 14.1 percent | 7.7 percent | 9.2 percent | ||||||
| E-commerce | 90.6 percent | 91.3 percent | 49.5 percent | 50.1 percent |
*Excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange.
Net income for the fourth quarter was $1.389 billion, or $3.13 per diluted share, compared to $1.097 billion, or $2.47 per diluted share last year. This year’s fourth quarter was negatively impacted by incremental expense related to COVID-19 premium wages and sanitation costs of $281 million pretax ($0.47 per diluted share) and a $36 million pretax charge ($0.06 per diluted share) related to the prepayment of $1.5 billion of debt. These items were partially offset by an $84 million pretax benefit ($0.15 per diluted share) for the partial reversal of a reserve of $123 million pretax ($0.22 cents per diluted share), related to a product tax assessment taken in the fourth quarter of last year.
Net income for the fiscal year was $4.00 billion, or $9.02 per diluted share, compared to $3.66 billion, or $8.26 per diluted share in the prior year.
Costco currently operates 795 warehouses, including 552 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 101 in Canada, 39 in Mexico, 29 in the United Kingdom, 27 in Japan, 16 in Korea, 13 in Taiwan, 12 in Australia, three in Spain, and one each in Iceland, France, and China. Costco also operates e-commerce sites in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Australia.
A conference call to discuss these results is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. (PT) today, September 24, 2020, and is available via a webcast on www.costco.com (click on Investor Relations and “Play Webcast”).
For more information, visit the company’s official press release.