PriceSmart (PSMT) Feb. Comps Decline 1.9%

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ: PSMT) today announced that for the month of February 2019, net merchandise sales were $228.8 million versus $228.9 million in February a year earlier. Foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations impacted net merchandise sales negatively by $8.8 million or 3.8% versus the same prior year one-month period.

For the six months ended February 28, 2019, net merchandise sales increased 0.4% to $1,567.6 million from $1,562.0 million in the same period last year. Foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations impacted net merchandise sales negatively by $49.2 million or 3.1% versus the same prior year six-month period.

There were 41 warehouse clubs in operation at February 28, 2019 compared to 40 warehouse clubs in operation at February 28, 2018.

For the five weeks ended March 3, 2019, comparable warehouse sales for the 40 warehouse clubs open at least 13 1/2 full months decreased 1.9% compared to the same five-week period last year. Foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations impacted comparable net merchandise sales negatively by $11.0 million or 3.8% versus the same prior year period.

For the twenty-six-week period ended March 3, 2019, comparable warehouse sales decreased 1.4% compared to the comparable twenty-six-week period a year ago. Foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations impacted comparable net merchandise sales negatively by $48.6 million or 3.1% versus the same prior year period.

The Company reports comparable net merchandise sales on a "same week" basis with 13 weeks in each quarter beginning on a Monday and ending on a Sunday. The periods are established at the beginning of the fiscal year to provide as close a match as possible to the calendar month and quarter that is used for financial reporting purposes. This approach equalizes the number of weekend days and weekdays in each period for improved sales comparison, as we experience higher merchandise club sales on the weekends. Each of the warehouse clubs used in the calculations was open for at least 13 ½ calendar months before its results for the current period were compared with its results for the prior period.

The term "currency exchange rates" refers to the currency exchange rates we use to convert net merchandise and comparable net merchandise sales for all countries where the functional currency is not the U.S. dollar into U.S. dollars. We calculate the effect of changes in currency exchange rates as the difference between current period activities translated using the current period's currency exchange rates, and the comparable prior year period's currency exchange rates. The disclosure of the effects of currency exchange rate fluctuations on the Company's results permits investors to understand better our underlying performance.

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