PriceSmart Announces Acquisition of Aeropost, Inc.

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Mar 19, 2018, 04:01 ET

SAN DIEGO, March 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ: PSMT), the largest operator of membership warehouse clubs in Central America, the Caribbean, and Colombia, announced today that it has acquired Aeropost, Inc., an end-to-end cross-border package delivery service and online retailer headquartered in Miami, Florida.

Aeropost is one of the largest and most visible cross border logistics and e-commerce providers in Latin America and the Caribbean, currently offering services to 38 countries and territories, including 11 where PriceSmart currently operates. Aeropost offers convenient local pickup points, and an innovative local payments platform that allows buyers to purchase US-sourced merchandised online.

PriceSmart will operate Aeropost from its headquarters in Miami as a wholly owned subsidiary.

"We admire PriceSmart's operational excellence and commitment to its members. Becoming part of the PriceSmart family gives us the opportunity to take Aeropost.com and PriceSmart to the forefront of retail innovation. We can't think of a better match," said Carlos M. Herrera, Aeropost's CEO.

The technology behind Aeropost.com coupled with its strong team, will allow PriceSmart to offer new online shopping options for its members, strengthening its commitment to provide an exceptional member experience with high quality merchandise at low prices.

"We are very excited to welcome the talented team at Aeropost to the PriceSmart family. Expanding on the strength of our brick and mortar clubs, the acquisition of Aeropost provides an opportunity to accelerate the development of an omni-channel shopping experience for our members" said Jose Luis Laparte, PriceSmart's President and CEO.

About PriceSmart

PriceSmart, headquartered in San Diego, owns and operates U.S.-style membership shopping warehouse clubs in Latin America and the Caribbean, selling high quality merchandise at low prices to PriceSmart members. PriceSmart now operates 40 warehouse clubs in 12 countries and one U.S. territory (seven each in Colombia and Costa Rica; five in Panama; four in Trinidad; three each in Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Honduras; two each in El Salvador and Nicaragua; and one each in Aruba, Barbados, Jamaica 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, proposed warehouse club openings, the Company's performance relative to competitors, the outcome of tax proceedings and related matters. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements containing the words "expect," "believe," "will," "may," "should," "project," "estimate," "anticipated," "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: our financial performance is dependent on international operations, which exposes us to various risks; any failure by us to manage our widely dispersed operations could adversely affect our business; we face significant competition; future sales growth depends, in part, on our ability to successfully open new warehouse clubs and grow sales in our existing locations; we might not identify in a timely manner or effectively respond to changes in consumer preferences for merchandise, which could adversely affect our relationship with members, demand for our products and market share; although we offer limited online shopping to our members in certain markets, our sales could be adversely affected if one or more major international online retailers were to enter our markets or if other competitors were to offer a superior online experience; failure to grow our e-commerce business through the integration of physical and digital retail or otherwise, and the cost of our increasing e-commerce investments, may materially adversely affect our market position, net sales and financial performance; our profitability is vulnerable to cost increases; we face difficulties in the shipment of, and risks inherent in the importation of, merchandise to our warehouse clubs; we are exposed to weather and other natural disaster risks that might not be adequately compensated by insurance; negative economic conditions could adversely impact our business in various respects; our failure to maintain our brand and reputation could adversely affect our results of operations; we face the risk of exposure to product liability claims, a product recall and adverse publicity; we are subject to risks associated with possible changes in our relationships with third parties with which we do business, as well as the performance of such third parties; we could be subject to additional tax liabilities or subject to reserves on the recoverability of tax receivables; we face the possibility of operational interruptions related to union work stoppages; we are subject to volatility in foreign currency exchange rates and limits on our ability to convert foreign currencies into U.S. dollars; we face compliance risks related to our international operations; we rely extensively on computer systems to process transactions, summarize results and manage our business. Failure to adequately maintain our systems and disruptions in our systems could harm our business and adversely affect our results of operations; we may experience difficulties implementing our new global enterprise resource planning system; any failure by us to maintain the security of the information that we hold relating to our company, members, employees and vendors, whether as a result of cybersecurity attacks on our information systems, failure of internal controls, employee negligence or malfeasance or otherwise, could damage our reputation with members, employees, vendors and others, could disrupt our operations, could cause us to incur substantial additional costs and to become subject to litigation and could materially adversely affect our operating results; we are subject to payment related risks; failure to attract and retain qualified employees, increases in wage and benefit costs, changes in laws and other labor issues could materially adversely affect our financial performance; changes in accounting standards and assumptions, projections, estimates and judgments by management related to complex accounting matters could significantly affect our financial condition and results of operations; a few of our stockholders own approximately 25.3% of our voting stock as of November 30, 2017, which may make it difficult to complete some corporate transactions without their support and may impede a change in control. The risks described above as well as the other risks detailed in the Company's U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") reports, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10- K filed for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2017 filed on October 26, 2017 pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. 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 John M. Heffner, Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer (858) 404-8826.

About Aeropost Inc.

Founded in Costa Rica, Aeropost is a well-established provider of logistics and payment services in Latin America and the Caribbean. Today, Aeropost.com enables customers to buy products internationally with a fully landed price, local payment methods and local delivery. Aeropost serves customers in 38 countries with Costa Rica, Trinidad and Jamaica as its largest markets.

SOURCE PriceSmart, Inc.