It was optimistic that demand for the high margin items, such as jewelry and home furnishings that it offers to its customers would continue to grow, said the membership-only retail chain Costco Wholesale Corp.

The company’s revenues for its latest completed quarter comfortably beat analysts’ estimates on Thursday.

The easing of pandemic induced restrictions and stimulus checks offered by governments benefitted Costco just like several other retailers as the footfall at the cavernous stores of the company increased during the quarter with consumers purchasing everything from groceries to sporting goods.

The company is planning to restart seating at most of its food courts and was starting a return of food sampling in a phased manner, the company said.

There was continued demand and sale during the quarter for its non-foods businesses and its travel division, Costco added. The travel business of the company offers its members opportunities to book hotel rooms and cruise tickets. This was driven by the release of the pent-up demand during the lockdowns as well as the roll out of the Covid-19 vaccines.

However there were still pressure on the company because of delays in supply as well higher freight charges and shortage of chips which were impacting deliveries during the quarter.

“There have been and are a variety of inflationary pressures that we and others are seeing. Inflationary factors abound,” Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said.

The delays in its supply chain were being tackled by the company through order adjustments, Costco added.

There was a 15.1 per cent jump in the company’s comparable sales, excluding the impact of fuel and currency fluctuations, which comfortably beat estimates of a 11.46 per cent surge, according to Refinitiv IBES.

In the quarter ended May 9, the company reported a rise in its net income attributable to the company to $1.22 billion, or $2.75 per share, compared to $838 million, or $1.89 per share, for the same period a year ago.

Analysts on average had expected a net income of $2.34 per share.

There was also a growth of 21.5 per cent in the total revenues of the company at $45.28 billion which was higher than the estimate of analysts at $43.64 billion.

(Adapted from Nasdaq.com)