SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwired - Mar 7, 2014) - PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ: PSMT) today announced that for the month of February 2014, net sales increased 11.0% to $182.8 million from $164.7 million in February a year earlier. For the six months ended February 28, 2014, net sales increased 11.8% to $1,246.9 million from $1,115.5 million in the same period last year. There were 32 warehouse clubs in operation at the end of February 2014 compared to 30 warehouse clubs in operation in February 2013.
For the five weeks ended March 2, 2014, comparable warehouse sales for the 30 warehouse clubs open at least 13 1/2 full months increased 5.3% compared to the same five-week period last year. For the twenty-six-week period ended March 2, 2014, comparable warehouse sales increased 7.2% compared to the comparable twenty-six-week period a year ago.
PriceSmart plans to release second quarter fiscal year 2014 financial results on Wednesday April 9, 2014. PriceSmart management plans to host a conference call at 12:00 p.m. Eastern time (9:00 a.m. Pacific time) on Thursday, April 10, 2014, to discuss the financial results.
Individuals interested in participating in the conference call may do so by dialing (888) 337-8198 for domestic callers or (719) 325-2402 for international callers, and entering participant code 9116013.
A digital replay will be available through April 30, 2014, following the conclusion of the call by dialing (888) 203-1112 for domestic callers, or (719) 457-0820 for international callers, and entering relay passcode 9116013.
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 32 warehouse clubs in 12 countries and one U.S. territory (six in Costa Rica; four each in Panama and Trinidad; three each in Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Colombia; two each in El Salvador and Honduras; and one each in Aruba, Barbados, Jamaica, Nicaragua 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 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: the Company's financial performance is dependent on international operations, which exposes the Company to various risks; any failure by the Company to manage its widely dispersed operations could adversely affect its business; the Company faces significant competition; future sales growth depends, in part, on the Company's ability to successfully open new warehouse clubs; the Company might not identify in a timely manner or effectively respond to changes in consumer trends and changes in consumer preferences for merchandise and shopping modalities, which could adversely affect its relationship with members, demand for its products and market share; the Company faces difficulties in the shipment of, and risks inherent in the importation of, merchandise to its warehouse clubs; the Company is exposed to weather and other natural disaster risks; general economic conditions could adversely impact the Company's business in various respects; the Company is subject to changes in relationships and agreements with third parties with which the Company does business and/or from which the Company acquires merchandise; the Company relies extensively on computer systems to process transactions, summarize results and manage its business and a failure to adequately maintain the Company's systems and disruptions in its systems could harm its business and adversely affect its results of operations; the Company could be subject to additional tax liabilities; a few of the Company's stockholders own approximately 28.3% of the Company's voting stock, which may make it difficult to complete some corporate transactions without their support and may impede a change in control; the loss of key personnel could harm the Company's business; the Company is subject to volatility in foreign currency exchange rates; the Company faces the risk of exposure to product liability claims, a product recall and adverse publicity; potential future impairments of long lived assets could adversely affect the Company's future results of operations and financial position; write-offs of goodwill and other intangible assets could adversely affect the Company's future results of operations and financial position; the Company faces increased public company compliance risks and compliance risks related to the Company's international operations; the Company faces increased compliance risks associated with compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002; if remediation costs or hazardous substance contamination levels at certain properties for which the Company maintains financial responsibility exceed management's current expectations, the Company's financial condition and results of operations could be adversely impacted. 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, 2013 filed on October 30, 2013 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.