SAN DIEGO, Nov. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- PriceSmart, Inc.
(NASDAQ: PSMT) today announced that for the month of October 2017, net warehouse club sales increased
2.0% to $246.8 million from
$241.9 million in October a year
earlier. For the two months ended October
31, 2017, net warehouse club sales increased 2.9% to
$483.9 million from $470.3 million for the two months ended
October 31, 2016. There were 40
warehouse clubs in operation at the end of October 2017 and 39 warehouse clubs in operation
at the end of October 2016.
For the four weeks ended October 29,
2017, comparable warehouse sales for the 38 warehouse clubs
open at least 13 1/2 full months increased 1.0%, compared to the
same four-week period last year. For the eight-week period ended
October 29, 2017, comparable
warehouse sales increased 1.9%, compared to the same eight-week
period a year ago.
As expected, the opening of the Santa
Ana, Costa Rica warehouse
club had a negative impact our reported comparable warehouse club
sales. For the current four week period, we estimate that
impact to be 110 basis points.
About PriceSmart
PriceSmart, headquartered in San
Diego, owns and operates U.S.-style membership shopping
warehouse clubs in Latin America
and the Caribbean, selling high
quality merchandise at low prices to PriceSmart members. PriceSmart
now operates 40 warehouse clubs in 12 countries and one U.S.
territory (seven each in Colombia
and Costa Rica; five in
Panama; four in Trinidad; three each in Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Honduras; two each in El Salvador and Nicaragua; and one each in Aruba, Barbados, Jamaica and the United States Virgin Islands).
This press release may contain forward-looking statements
concerning the Company's anticipated future revenues and earnings,
adequacy of future cash flow, proposed warehouse club openings, the
Company's performance relative to competitors, the outcome of tax
proceedings and related matters. These forward-looking statements
include, but are not limited to, statements containing the words
"expect," "believe," "will," "may," "should," "project,"
"estimate," "anticipated," "scheduled," and like expressions, and
the negative thereof. These statements are subject to risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially,
including the following risks: our financial performance is
dependent on international operations, which exposes us to various
risks; any failure by us to manage our widely dispersed operations
could adversely affect our business; we face significant
competition; future sales growth depends, in part, on our ability
to successfully open new warehouse clubs and grow sales in our
existing locations; we might not identify in a timely manner or
effectively respond to changes in consumer preferences for
merchandise, which could adversely affect our relationship with
members, demand for our products and market share; although we
offer limited online shopping to our members in certain markets,
our sales could be adversely affected if one or more major
international online retailers were to enter our markets or if
other competitors were to offer a superior online experience;
failure to grow our e-commerce business through the integration of
physical and digital retail or otherwise, and the cost of our
increasing e-commerce investments, may materially adversely affect
our market position, net sales and financial performance; our
profitability is vulnerable to cost increases; we face difficulties
in the shipment of, and risks inherent in the importation of,
merchandise to our warehouse clubs; we are exposed to weather and
other natural disaster risks that might not be adequately
compensated by insurance; negative economic conditions could
adversely impact our business in various respects; our failure to
maintain our brand and reputation could adversely affect our
results of operations; we face the risk of exposure to product
liability claims, a product recall and adverse publicity; we are
subject to risks associated with possible changes in our
relationships with third parties with which we do business, as well
as the performance of such third parties; we could be subject to
additional tax liabilities or subject to reserves on the
recoverability of tax receivables; we face the possibility of
operational interruptions related to union work stoppages; we are
subject to volatility in foreign currency exchange rates and limits
on our ability to convert foreign currencies into U.S. dollars; we
face compliance risks related to our international operations; we
rely extensively on computer systems to process transactions,
summarize results and manage our business. Failure to adequately
maintain our systems and disruptions in our systems could harm our
business and adversely affect our results of operations; we may
experience difficulties implementing our new global enterprise
resource planning system; any failure by us to maintain the
security of the information that we hold relating to our company,
members, employees and vendors, whether as a result of
cybersecurity attacks on our information systems, failure of
internal controls, employee negligence or malfeasance or otherwise,
could damage our reputation with members, employees, vendors and
others, could disrupt our operations, could cause us to incur
substantial additional costs and to become subject to litigation
and could materially adversely affect our operating results; we are
subject to payment related risks; failure to attract and retain
qualified employees, increases in wage and benefit costs, changes
in laws and other labor issues could materially adversely affect
our financial performance; changes in accounting standards and
assumptions, projections, estimates and judgments by management
related to complex accounting matters could significantly affect
our financial condition and results of operations; a few of our
stockholders own approximately 25.3% of our voting stock as of
August 31, 2017, which may make it
difficult to complete some corporate transactions without their
support and may impede a change in control. The risks described
above as well as the other risks detailed in the Company's U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") reports, including the
Company's Annual Report on Form 10- K filed for the fiscal year
ended August 31, 2017 filed on
October 26, 2017 pursuant to the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934. We assume no obligation and
expressly disclaim any duty to update any forward-looking statement
to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this
presentation or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated
events.
For further information, please contact John M. Heffner, Principal Financial Officer and
Principal Accounting Officer (858) 404-8826.
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SOURCE PriceSmart, Inc.