(News Bulletin 247) – Costco Wholesale reported yesterday evening a 3.3% increase in its like-for-like sales in May, a disappointing performance mainly attributable to the weakness of its non-food sales.
While the figure proves to be higher than analysts’ forecasts for a 2.3% rise, it marks a slowdown from the 4.3% growth recorded in April, after increases of 2.6% in March. and 5% in February.
In a note of reaction, analysts at Jefferies attributed the deceleration to the decline in sales of the distributor in departments such as beauty, ready-to-wear and tires.
They note that the group also underperformed in home furnishings, office equipment and electronics.
‘This overall picture suggests that the Costco model continues to suffer from the difficulties of the economy’, judge for their part the teams of UBS.
The Swiss bank said in particular is concerned about the significant slowdown in like-for-like growth in the United States, where sales only increased by 1.7% in May after +2.9% in April.
In Canada, its like-for-like sales jumped 7.9% last month, while they climbed 6.4% elsewhere in the world.
Costco Wholesale currently operates 853 warehouse stores, including 587 in the United States, 107 in Canada and two in France.
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