<p style="text-indent:0px; line-height:12px;"><span style="font-weight:bold;"> Issaquah, WA-</span><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">By Jordan Okumura<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">12.12.12</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Costco Wholesale Corporation has reported its operating results for the first quarter or twelve weeks of fiscal 2013 which ended November 25, 2012. Net sales for the period increased ten percent from $21.18 to $23.20 billion. Net income for the first quarter was $416 million, compared to $320 million in the same quarter last year.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">According to a Costco press release, last year's net income was negatively impacted by a $12 million charge related to settlement of an income tax audit of the Company's Mexico operation, and a $17 million charge related to contributions to an initiative reforming alcoholic beverage laws in Washington State.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Members pay up to $110 for the year's membership. Membership fee revenue rose 14.3 percent to $511 million in the first quarter, according to reports in Reuters. Costco raised fees by 10% for most U.S. and Canadian members on November 1, 2011. Though the fee increase seemed to have had little to no impact on renewal rates, the increase in membership fee revenue was not as great as predicted. According to Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti, growth declined from a rise of about 18 percent in the preceding quarter.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=83830&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1766421&highlight=" target="_new"> Costco </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
