Costco Wholesale Corp. reported an increase in sales for its fourth quarter, fiscal 2022, including growth in comparable sales in Canada of 13.4 per cent and 15.8 per cent for the U.S. market.
The growth in sales was spurred by strong demand for its fresh food, candies and fuel offerings.
However, the company’s gross margins for the reported quarter were squeezed as it battles higher freight and labour costs due to rising inflation and global supply chain snags, sending its shares down about three per cent in extended trading, as reported by Reuters.
Global net income for the fourth quarter was $1.868 billion compared to $1.670 billion last year. Last year’s fourth quarter was negatively impacted by a write-off of information technology assets of $84 million pre-tax.
Net income for the fiscal year was $5.84 billion compared to $5.01 billion in the prior year.
Costco currently operates 838 warehouses, including 107 in Canada, 578 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, 40 in Mexico, 31 in Japan, 29 in the U.K., 17 in Korea, 14 in Taiwan, 13 in Australia, four in Spain, two each in France and China, and one in Iceland. Costco also operates e-commerce sites in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia.
