PriceSmart
Announces January Sales
San
Diego, California (February 5, 2010) – PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ: PSMT) today
announced that for the month of January 2010, net sales increased 9.2% to $106.4
million from $97.4 million in January a year earlier. For the five
months ended January 31, 2010, net sales increased 5.7% to $567.1 million from
$536.7 million in the same period last year. There were 26 warehouse
clubs in operation at the end of January 2010 compared to 25 warehouse clubs in
operation in January 2009.
For the four weeks ended January 24, 2010,
comparable warehouse sales for the 26 warehouse clubs open at least 12 full
months increased 5.8% compared to the same four-week period last
year. For the twenty-one week period ended January 24, 2010, comparable
warehouse sales increased 1.9% compared to the comparable twenty-one week period
a year ago.
About
PriceSmart
PriceSmart,
headquartered in San Diego, owns and operates U.S.-style membership shopping
warehouse clubs in Central America and the Caribbean, selling high quality
merchandise at low prices to PriceSmart members. PriceSmart now operates 26
warehouse clubs in 11 countries and one U.S. territory (five in Costa Rica;
four in Panama; three each in Guatemala and Trinidad, two each in Dominican
Republic, 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,“
"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 the
Company’s business; the Company faces significant competition; the Company
faces difficulties in the shipment of and inherent risks in the importation of
merchandise to its warehouse clubs; the Company is exposed to weather and other
risks associated with international operations; declines in the economies of
the countries in which the Company operates its warehouse clubs would harm its
business; a few of the Company's stockholders own nearly 40% 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; the Company faces the risk of exposure
to product liability claims, a product recall and adverse publicity; a
determination that the Company's long-lived or intangible assets have been
impaired could adversely affect the Company's future results of operations and
financial position; and the Company faces increased compliance risks associated
with compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002; as well as
the other risks detailed in the Company's SEC reports, including the Company's
Annual Report on Form 10-K filed pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of
1934 on November 9, 2009. 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 Robert E. Price, Chief Executive Officer
(858) 551-2336; or John M. Heffner, Executive Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer (858) 404-8826.