ISSAQUAH, WA--(Marketwired - Apr 8, 2015) - Costco Wholesale Corporation ("Costco" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: COST) today reported net sales of $10.40 billion for the month of March, the five weeks ended April 5, 2015, which compares to $10.43 billion during the similar period last year. This year's total reflects one less sales day than last year, due to the timing of Easter. This calendar shift negatively impacted this year's net and comparable sales by an estimated one to one and one-half percent.

For the thirty-one weeks ended April 5, 2015, the Company reported net sales of $67.58 billion, an increase of five percent from $64.65 billion during the similar period last year.

Comparable sales for the five and thirty-one week periods were as follows:

         
    5 Weeks   31 Weeks
U.S.  
0%		  
4%
International   -9%   -2%
         
Total Company   -2%   2%
         

Comparable sales for these periods, excluding the negative impacts from gasoline price deflation and foreign exchange, were as follows:

         
    5 Weeks   31 Weeks
U.S.  
4%		  
7%
International   4%   7%
         
Total Company   4%   7%
         

Additional discussion of these results is available in a pre-recorded telephone message. The recording can be accessed by dialing 1-855-859-2056 (conference ID 94085027). This message will be available today through 5:00 p.m. (PT) April 10, 2015.

The Company plans to release its operating results for the third quarter of fiscal 2015, ending May 10, 2015, after the close of business on May 27, 2015. A conference call to discuss these results is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. (PT) on May 28, 2015, and will be available via webcast on www.costco.com (click on Investor Relations and "webcasts").

Costco currently operates 672 warehouses, including 474 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 89 in Canada, 34 in Mexico, 26 in the United Kingdom, 20 in Japan, 11 in Korea, 10 in Taiwan, seven in Australia and one in Spain. The Company plans to open up to an additional 16 new warehouses (including one relocation to a larger and better-located facility) prior to the end of its fiscal year on August 30, 2015. Costco also operates electronic commerce web sites in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Mexico.

Certain statements contained in this document and the pre-recorded telephone message constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For these purposes, forward-looking statements are statements that address activities, events, conditions or developments that the Company expects or anticipates may occur in the future. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events, results or performance to differ materially from those indicated by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, domestic and international economic conditions, including exchange rates, the effects of competition and regulation, uncertainties in the financial markets, consumer and small business spending patterns and debt levels, breaches of security or privacy of member or business information, conditions affecting the acquisition, development, ownership or use of real estate, capital spending, actions of vendors, rising costs associated with employees (including health care costs), energy and certain commodities, geopolitical conditions, and other risks identified from time to time in the Company's public statements and reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake to update these statements, except as required by law.