Costco Wholesale has recorded a robust financial performance for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2025, with net sales reaching $60.99bn – a 7.5% uplift from the $56.72bn reported during the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
During the 12 weeks concluding on 24 November 2024, Costco witnessed a 5.2% uptick in comparable sales, with the US and Canada contributing increases of 5.2% and 5.8% respectively.
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The company’s e-commerce comparable sales soared by 13%, and adjusted e-commerce comparable sales edged even higher to a 13.2% rise in Q1 FY25.
Costco’s operating income escalated to $5.84bn in Q1 FY25, up from $5.35bn recorded in Q1 FY24.
Net income followed suit, surging 13.1% to reach $1.79bn for the quarter, compared to $1.58bn in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Shareholders saw earnings per share climb to $4.04 in Q1 FY25, a leap from the $3.58 reported in the same quarter of the previous year.
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By GlobalDataThe financial outcomes for the year were buoyed by a tax benefit amounting to $100m or $0.22 per diluted share, originating from stock-based compensation — a notable increase from the previous year’s tax benefit of $44m, or $0.10 per diluted share.
Costco’s gross margin performance also strengthened, registering 11.28% for Q1 FY25, an improvement of 24 basis points over the previous year’s figures.
The company operates a network of 897 warehouses globally, including 617 warehouses across the US and Puerto Rico, alongside footprints of 109 warehouses in Canada, 41 in Mexico, 36 in Japan and 29 in the UK.
In an update preceding these annual results, Costco reported net sales for November 2024, spanning four weeks and ending on 1 December 2024 at $21.87bn.
This reflects an increase of 5.6% from the $20.71bn achieved during the same period of the previous year.
During the initial quarter of fiscal 2025, the company expanded its infrastructure by inaugurating seven additional warehouses. Its forecast for the fiscal year remains unchanged, with plans to launch a total of 29 warehouses.
Three will be replacements for existing facilities, resulting in a net increase of 26 new warehouses.
Shifting focus to revenue generated from membership fees, the reported figures reached $1.166bn – an $84m rise or a 7.8% growth compared to the previous year. This growth in membership fee income holds steady at 7.8% even when foreign exchange fluctuations are not taken into account.
