Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports March Sales Results

Quarter-to-date service performance data for July 1 through August 20 included: *First-Class Mail: Delivered 88.8 percent of First-Class Mail on time against the USPS service performance standard, an improvement of 1.3 percentage points from the third quarter. *Marketing Mail: Delivered 92.7 percent of Marketing Mail on time against the USPS service performance standard, an improvement of 1.7 percentage points from the third quarter. *Periodicals: Delivered 82.1 percent of Periodicals on time against the USPS service standard, an improvement of 2.9 percentage points from the third quarter. Additionally, for the week of August 14-20, the Postal Service achieved its highest level of service performance recorded for the Marketing Mail category in five years, matching a previous high (93.9%) recorded in August 2016.

Torstar Corporationannounced that it has entered into an amendment to the arrangement agreement dated May 26, 2020 between Torstar and NordStar Capital LP, pursuant to which NordStar has agreed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding Class A shares and Class B non-voting shares of Torstar (the “Shares”) by way of a statutory plan of arrangement at an increased price of $0.74 per Share. The amended purchase price constitutes an increase of 17.5% from the $0.63 per Share payable under the original NordStar Agreement. The amendment to the NordStar Agreement results from discussions with NordStar following Torstar’s receipt of an unsolicited offer from a private investor group, pursuant to which such group proposed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding Shares for a combination of $0.72 per Share in cash and the issuance of one non-transferable contingent value right per Share, with payments (if any) on such right being based on proceeds of dispositions of, and distributions from, select Torstar non-core assets in certain circumstances following issuance.

Third Quarter of Fiscal 2023 Compared to Third Quarter of Fiscal 2022 *Net sales increased 6.4% to $2.5 billion compared to $2.3 billion, primarily due to increased comparable sales, strong new store performance, and strong growth in other revenue. *Comparable sales (sales for stores open at least 14 months and e-commerce sales) increased 4.5% compared to an increase of 14.6%, driven by a 5.9% increase in transactions and a 1.4% decrease in average ticket. *Gross profit increased 3.0% to $992.1 million compared to $962.8 million. As a percentage of net sales, gross profit decreased to 39.9% compared to 41.2%, primarily due to lower merchandise margin, higher inventory shrink, and higher supply chain costs, partially offset by strong growth in other revenue. *Operating income was $327.2 million, or 13.1% of net sales, compared to $361.9 million, or 15.5% of net sales. *Net income was $249.5 million compared to $274.6 million.