ウィスパリング同時通訳研究会コミュのCostco COST Q1 2021 Earnings Call

Operator

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Q1 earnings call. [Operator instructions] Thank you. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Mr. Richard Galanti.
Please go ahead.

Richard Galanti -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, Cindy, and good afternoon to everyone. I will start by stating that these discussions will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events, results and/or performance to differ materially from those indicated by such statements. The risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those outlined in today's call, as well as other risks identified from time to time in the company's public statements and reports filed with the SEC.

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and the company does not undertake to update these statements, except as required by law. In today's press release, we reported operating results for the first quarter of fiscal -- our fiscal-year 2021, the 12 weeks ended November 22. Reported net income for the quarter came in at $1.166 billion or $2.62 per share, compared to $844 million or $1.90 per diluted share last year. This year's first quarter included tax benefits of $145 million or $0.33 per share, $0.16 of which was due to the deductibility of the $10 per share special cash dividend to the extent received by the company's 401(k) plan participants and $0.17 related to stock-based compensation.
Last year's first quarter included a $77 million or $0.17 per share tax benefit related to stock-based compensation as well. And this year's results also included the costs related to our COVID-19 premium wages of $212 million pre-tax or $0.35 per diluted share. Net sales for the quarter increased 16.9% to $42.35 billion, up from $36.24 billion last year in Q1. In terms of our first-quarter comp sales metrics, for the -- on a reported basis, for the U.S., we reported a 14.6% figure.
Excluding gas deflation and FX impacts, the 14.6% for the 12 weeks would have been 17% increase. Canada for the 12 weeks reported 16.2%; ex gas and FX, 16.8%. Other International reported 18.7%; ex gas and FX, 17.7%. So all told, for the total company, we reported 15.4% comp sales increase.
And excluding gas deflation and FX, the 15.4% would be 17.1%. E-commerce on a reported basis for the 12 weeks was 86.4%; and excluding FX, 86.2%. In terms of Q1 comp sales metrics, traffic or shopping frequency increased 5.5% worldwide and plus 7.6% in the U.S. Our average transaction size was up for the company, 9.4% in the quarter year over year and up 6.5% in the U.S.
These include the negative impacts from gas deflation and the positive impact from FX. Foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar positively impacted sales by about 30 basis points, and gasoline price deflation negatively impacted sales by approximately 200 basis points. Now going down the income statement.
Membership fee income came in at $860.9 million, up $57 million or 7.1%. Ex FX, it would have been up $54 million or 6.7%. During the quarter, we opened eight new units. In terms of renewal rates, our U.S. and Canada renewal rate as of the end of Q1 '21 was 90.9%. That compares to a quarter ago of 91%. And worldwide, it was 88.4%, which was the same as it was a quarter ago. Now the U.S. and Canada's rate of 90.9%, compared to the 91%, this 0.1% decline was primarily a result of what we believe to be the deferred renewals in Canada due to the pandemic. For example, traffic or frequency in our Canada warehouses in Q1 came in at a minus 1.3%, compared to a plus 7.6% figure in the United States. By the way, the U.S. renewal rate was the same at both quarters' end.
In terms of number of members at Q1 end, total paid households at Q1 end was 59.1 million, up from 12 weeks earlier Q4 end of 58.1 million. And total cardholders at Q1 end was 107.1 million, compared to 12 weeks earlier at 105.5 million. Also at first quarter end, paid executive memberships totaled 23.3 million, an increase of 642,000 during the fiscal first quarter. On to the gross margin line.
Our reported gross margin in the first quarter was higher year over year by 50 basis points, coming in at 11.55% of sales, compared to 11.05% a year ago. Excluding gas deflation, the point -- the 50-basis-point increase would be 30 basis points. If you jot down two columns of numbers here to shed a little light on the components of gross margin, on a reported basis in Q1 '21, the core merchandise margin year over year was up on a reported basis, 83 basis points, plus 83. Second column without gas deflation would have been plus 66 basis points.
Ancillary businesses, minus 15 basis points reported and minus 20 ex gas deflation; 2% Reward, minus 6 basis points and minus 4; other, minus 12 and minus 12. And if you add up the two columns, on a reported basis, again, gross margin reported as a percent of sales year over year in the quarter was up 50 basis points on a reported basis and ex gas deflation up 30 basis points. Now the core merchandise component of gross margin shows it was higher by 83 and up 66 ex gas deflation. Similar to last quarter, we had a sales shift from ancillary to core.
This resulted in a higher contribution of our total gross margin dollars coming from the core operations versus last year. Looking at core merchandise categories in relation only to their own sales, core and core, if you will, margins year over year in the quarter were higher by 65 basis points. Fresh foods was again the biggest driver here. With strong sales in fresh, we benefited from efficiency gains in labor productivity and significantly lower product spoilage.
Food and sundries, softlines and hardlines, the other three main core components, all had higher margins year over year in the quarter as well, but fresh foods was the driver. Ancillary and other businesses gross margins, as I showed you here, was lower on a reported basis by 15 basis points and minus 20 ex gas deflation, most of the impact coming from travel and, to a lesser extent, from gas, optical, hearing aids and food courts. Costco Logistics, which is our name for the acquisition of Innovel that we did several months ago, impacted ancillary margins by minus 6 basis points, a slight relative improvement from the prior quarter year over year. 2% Reward, nothing surprising there.
And the other, the minus 12 basis points, all of this was attributable to the cost of the COVID-19 of $53 million of the $212 million total amount previously mentioned. These are the direct costs for incremental wages allocated to our manufacturing, production and fulfillment operations. All told, even with the $53 million of COVID costs hitting the margin, Q4 year-over-year gross margin on a reported basis ex gas is still up 30 basis points year over year. Moving to SG&A.
Our reported SG&A in the first quarter as a percent of sales was lower or better year over year by 15 basis points, coming in at 10.15% of sales compared to a year earlier -- first quarter of 10.30%. And ex gas deflation, the 15 basis improvement would be 32 basis points of improvement. Again, jotting down two columns of numbers, reported and without gas deflation. Core operations in Q1 on a reported basis was lower or better by 49 basis points so a plus 49; ex gas deflation, plus 62.
Central, plus 1 and plus 3 basis points; stock compensation, plus 3 and plus 4 basis points; other, minus 38 and minus 37 basis points. And summing those two columns up, total reported SG&A year over year was better or lower -- or better, plus 15 basis points; and ex gas deflation, plus 32 basis points. Now SG&A in the core -- again, it shows, ex deflation, an improvement of 62 basis points. This excludes the COVID costs, which I'll talk about in a minute.
There was significant -- just basic significant leverage with strong core merchandise sales increases. In terms of other, the minus 38 or minus 37-basis-point number ex deflation -- gas deflation, these were our incremental costs from the COVID-19, $159 million of the $212 million total number that we had mentioned earlier. The premium wages have been extended through January 3 at this time. Again, even including these $159 million of COVID-related premium pay expenses, SG&A year over year improved nicely.
Next on the income statement is preopening expense, $22 million this year in the first quarter, compared to $14 million a year earlier. We had 10 openings, eight net of two relocations during the quarter; and four openings gross, three net of one relocation a year earlier. Last year's $14 million number did include a couple of million dollars related to preopening on our new poultry -- on our poultry complex, which was opened and went into business right before the beginning of Q1. All told, reported operating income for Q1 '21 increased 35%, coming in at $1.43 billion this year, compared to $1.061 billion last year, and even a higher percent increase, of course.
It would have been higher had not we had those -- the premium pay. Below the operating income line, interest expense was $39 million this year versus $38 million last year. Interest income and other for the quarter was lower by $6 million year over year. Interest income itself with net interest income and other was lower by $22 million year over year due in large part to lower interest rates, offset by FX and other, which was up -- which was higher or better by $16 million year over year.
So overall, reported pre-tax income in Q1 '21 was up 34%, coming in at $1.42 billion this year, compared to $1.058 billion a year earlier. In terms of income taxes, our tax rate in the first quarter of fiscal '21 was 16.8%, compared to 19.1% in Q1 last year. Both years' tax rates benefited from the tax treatment of stock-based compensation, as mentioned earlier. This year's tax rate in the first quarter also benefited from the tax deductibility of the special dividend payable to company 401(k) participants, as discussed -- that portion payable to the 401(k) participants as discussed earlier in the call.
This year's full -- this full year's -- fiscal year's effective tax rate, excluding these discrete items, is currently projected to be between 26% and 26.5%. In terms of warehouse expansion, as I mentioned in the first quarter of this fiscal year, we opened eight net new units. Our plan for the year is somewhere in the 20 to 22 range. None in the second quarter and six or so -- five or six in Q3 and seven or eight in Q4.
As of Q1 end, total warehouse square footage stood at 117 million square feet. In terms of capital expenditures, in the first quarter of '21, we spent approximately $893 million. Our full-year capex spend for fiscal '21 is still estimated to be in the $3 billion to $3.2 billion range. In terms of e-commerce, overall, our e-commerce sales in Q1 ex FX increased at 86.2% year over year.
A few of the stronger departments, food and sundries, housewares, pharmacy, OTC and health and beauty aids, small electrics and TVs and other electronics. Total online grocery grew at a very strong rate in Q1, nearly 300%. The comp numbers that I mentioned, the 86.2% figure follow our usual convention, which excludes these third-party same-day grocery program as they come in themselves and shop in our warehouses and then deliver to our members. If we include the third-party same-day in our e-commerce comps, the 86.2% result would have been just over 100%.
Innovel, now rebranded as Costco Logistics, continues to grow, and we continue to push more big and bulky items to the site. We've added -- in the past quarter, we added an in-cart scheduler this quarter, where members can select specific delivery dates for most big and bulky items; and made improvements to our call center with specifically trained agents as well. That continues to grow nicely. And lastly, a couple of fun sports items just loaded two days ago.
We have a Babe Ruth-autographed baseball for $64,000 and a Ty Cobb-autographed Louisville Slugger bat for $160,000. We've also recently sold a number of memberships for Wheels Up, a private jet service operator. Now turning to COVID and some of the issues and impacts surrounding it. From a sales perspective, similar to our strong sales results this past summer and our fiscal fourth quarter, we have continued to enjoy strong sales results during the first quarter of fiscal 2021.
We continue to generate strong sales in food and sundries and health and beauty aids and fresh foods and the like. And we've also benefited from improved sales in products and items for the home. As people are spending less on air and travel and hotel and dining out, they seem to have redirected some of those dollars to categories like electronics, furniture and mattresses, exercise equipment, housewares, cookware, domestics, etc. And as mentioned earlier, sales in most of our ancillary businesses were lower year over year in the quarter, travel, gas, hearing aids and food courts.
From a supply chain perspective, a 40,000-foot view, if you will. Most factories are up and running at our suppliers, and in many cases, production capacity has been increased. However, even higher increases in demand of some products are still creating some supply issues. There are instances of 50%, 100% or even more sales increases of an item.
And if we could procure more, we'd have even higher sales. Examples would include things like exercise equipment, certain major appliances, certain electronics items, as well as certain housewares and small electric items. On the transportation front, there have been some container shortages at origin, as well as some congestion at destination ports here in the states. The latter, typically two to four days, but a little longer in some cases.
We're managing through it and expect relief not until March or so of 2021. As well in the past few weeks, there have been some challenges that you may have read about in the industry in terms of delayed delivery times of e-com item -- of items, just given the number of items being shipped now through third-party carriers. While this may reduce some sales if members are confident -- are not confident in timely holiday delivery, we, like others, I'm sure, have done a couple of things. We've adjusted our stated expected delivery times on our side and reminded people to shop early.
And we -- in our case, we took several hundred nonfood items -- nonfood online items that are also in line and are providing same-day delivery through Instacart, including items like AirPods and instapots and laptops and many over-the-counter, health and beauty items, as well as some other home essentials. In terms of food and sundries, continued limits on some paper goods. Demand and sales went up as COVID began spiking again. Our toughest areas, nitrile gloves, surface cleaning wipes and sanitizing sprays
Also, in some cases, some paper goods. Overall, dairy items are in good shape, as well as proteins and produce on the fresh side. In terms of our holiday merchandise planning and results. Halloween, we went into it a little more conservative in terms of costumes and Halloween-specific candy items.
We came out of Halloween with pretty clean inventory levels. Christmas, as I think we mentioned on the last earnings call responding to a question, we went a little more basic in terms of needs and uses for the house. So very strong. We've gone into it with fundamental items for the home like housewares, TVs, electronics, even added items like barbecues and pressure washers and furniture items.
A little less, we had cut back a little bit on seasonal items like holiday decorations and gift wrap and some of the candy and food gift baskets. In some instances, we've already sold through those inventories. Our warehouses overall have remained open and are mostly back to regular hours with an additional hour on any mornings for seniors and persons with disabilities. Warehouses are still following social distancing and sanitation guidelines.
And in some jurisdictions, we have to limit occupancy. Since May 4, as you may recall, we've required members and employees to the warehouses to wear masks. And since November 16, we've required face shields for those unable to wear a mask. Some of these initiatives, of course, will extend well into Q2 of the fiscal year.
Finally, in terms of upcoming press releases, we will announce our December sales results for the five weeks ending Sunday, January 3, on Wednesday, January 6 after market closes. With that, I will open it up to questions and answers, and I'll turn it back to Cindy. Cindy?