PriceSmart posted fiscal fourth-quarter net merchandise sales of $1.48 billion, a 13.8% jump from $1.30 billion in the year-ago period, as the membership warehouse club operator serving Latin America and the Caribbean continued to gain volume across its 58-club network. Total revenues for the quarter ended August 31, 2026 reached $1.52 billion, up 13.9% year over year. Net income climbed 19.3% to $37.6 million, or $1.21 per diluted share, compared with $31.5 million, or $1.02 per diluted share, in the prior-year quarter.
Comparable Sales & Currency
Comparable net merchandise sales for the 55 clubs open longer than 13½ calendar months rose 12.2% for the 13-week period ended August 30, 2026 — a figure that includes a 6.0-percentage-point tailwind from favorable foreign currency moves. Strip out currency effects and the constant-currency comp gain still ran at 6.2%, a solid reading for a membership-driven format that competes primarily on price and product breadth rather than foodservice impulse. Membership income reinforced the trend, reaching $27.2 million in Q4 alone versus $22.6 million a year earlier, and $100.8 million for the full fiscal year — a figure that signals durable member retention across markets where PriceSmart is often the dominant modern retail channel.
For the full fiscal year ended August 31, 2026, net merchandise sales grew 11.7% to $5.75 billion from $5.15 billion, with constant-currency growth of 8.4%. Full-year operating income reached $261.0 million versus $232.5 million in fiscal 2025. Annual net income rose 12.6% to $166.6 million, or $5.40 per diluted share. Adjusted EBITDA for the year totaled $360.5 million, up from $320.7 million, while Q4 adjusted EBITDA came in at $83.5 million compared with $75.5 million in the same quarter last year.
Jamaica Expansion
Beyond the headline financials, PriceSmart opened its third Jamaica warehouse club in October 2026, siting the new unit on a five-acre parcel in Montego Bay — roughly 100 miles west of the Kingston location. The club carries approximately 42,000 square feet of sales floor and incorporates solar panels, CO2-based cooling, energy-efficient LED lighting, and high-efficiency mechanical systems, consistent with the operator's broader push to reduce energy consumption across its portfolio. For operators tracking retail expansion in emerging markets, the Montego Bay opening signals continued appetite for the warehouse club format in the Caribbean, where per-club volumes can rival or exceed North American peers on a purchasing-power-adjusted basis.
With four additional clubs in the announced pipeline — Kingston (South Camp Road) slated for December 2026, Villa Nueva (Guatemala) in late winter 2027, Heredia (Costa Rica) in spring 2027, and Santiago (Chile) in spring 2027 — the chain's total unit count is on track to reach 63. The Chile entry would mark PriceSmart's first foothold in South America's most affluent consumer market, a meaningful step for a format that has historically concentrated in Central America and the Caribbean. Retailers and foodservice suppliers eyeing warehouse club distribution in the region should note that PriceSmart's scale in Colombia (10 clubs) and Costa Rica (10 clubs) already gives it category-level purchasing leverage comparable to a large domestic grocery chain.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
