 our fiscal 2018 pre-tax margin ( the ratio of pre-tax income to net sales ) was 10.8 % , a 0.4 percentage point decrease compared to 11.2 % in fiscal 2017. the impairment charge relating to stp and the cost of incremental investments we made in connection with the 2017 tax act collectively reduced pre-tax margin by 0.6 percentage points while the 53 rd week in the fiscal 2018 calendar lifted pretax margin by approximately 0.1 percentage point . fiscal 2017 pre-tax margin was reduced by 0.3 percentage points due to the two third quarter charges referred to above .  our cost of sales , including buying and occupancy costs , ratio for fiscal 2018 was 71.1 % , a 0.1 percentage point increase compared to 71.0 % in fiscal 2017. this increase was driven by higher supply chain costs partially offset by the favorable impact of mark-to-market of inventory derivatives and a benefit from the 53 rd week in the fiscal 2018 calendar . merchandise margins were flat compared to fiscal 2017 .  our selling , general and administrative ( sg & a ) expense ratio for fiscal 2018 was 17.8 % , a 0.4 percentage point increase from 17.4 % in fiscal 2017. the incremental investments described below related to the 2017 tax act increased the fiscal 2018 expense ratio by 0.3 percentage points . the remaining increase is primarily due to higher store payroll costs due to wage increases .  our consolidated average per store inventories , including inventory on hand at our distribution centers ( which excludes inventory in transit ) and excluding our e-commerce businesses , increased 6 % on a reported basis and increased 4 % on a constant currency basis at the end of fiscal 2018 as compared to the prior year .  during fiscal 2018 , we repurchased 22.3 million shares of our common stock for $ 1.7 billion , on a trade date basis . earnings per share reflect the benefit of the stock repurchase program . with $ 1.1 billion remaining under previously announced stock repurchase programs , our board of directors approved our 19 th stock repurchase program that authorizes the repurchase of up to an additional $ 3.0 billion . 27 the following is a discussion of our consolidated operating results , followed by a discussion of our segment operating results . tax cuts and jobs act of 2017 : on december 22 , 2017 , the 2017 tax act was enacted into law which , among other things , includes a one-time mandatory transition tax on accumulated foreign undistributed earnings and a reduction of the u.s. corporate income tax rate to 21 percent , effective january 1 , 2018. the change in the u.s. income tax rate also requires us to revalue our deferred tax assets and liabilities . although we are still evaluating the impact of the 2017 tax act on tjx , the company has estimated the impact of the 2017 tax act which resulted in a reduction of the full year tax provision . the company has reinvested a portion of these tax benefits by approving a discretionary bonus to eligible non-bonus plan associates globally , providing an incremental contribution to the company 's defined contribution retirement plans for eligible associates in the u.s. and internationally , as well as making contributions to the company 's charitable foundations , collectively referred to as incremental investments related to the 2017 tax act. the tax benefits recognized due to the 2017 tax act , offset by the after-tax impact of incremental investments we made related to the 2017 tax act , resulted in a net benefit to net income of $ 0.17 per share for the fiscal 2018 fourth quarter and full year . net sales : consolidated net sales for fiscal 2018 totaled $ 35.9 billion , an 8 % increase over $ 33.2 billion in fiscal 2017. the increase reflected a 4 % increase from new stores , a 2 % increase from comp sales , and a 2 % increase from the impact of the 53 rd week in the fiscal 2018 calendar . foreign currency had a neutral impact in fiscal 2018. net sales from our e-commerce businesses amounted to approximately 2 % of total sales and had an immaterial impact on fiscal 2018 sales growth . consolidated net sales for fiscal 2017 totaled $ 33.2 billion , a 7 % increase over $ 30.9 billion in fiscal 2016. the increase reflected a 5 % increase from comp sales and a 4 % increase from new stores , offset by a 2 % negative impact from foreign currency exchange rates . comparable store sales : we define comparable store sales ( comp sales ) , formerly referred to as same-store sales , to be sales of stores that have been in operation for all or a portion of two consecutive fiscal years , or in other words , stores that are starting their third fiscal year of operation . we calculate comp sales on a 52-week basis by comparing the current and prior year weekly periods that are most closely aligned . relocated stores and stores that have changed in size are generally classified in the same way as the original store , and we believe that the impact of these stores on the consolidated comp percentage is immaterial . we define customer traffic to be the number of transactions in stores included in the comp sales calculation and average ticket to be the average retail price of the units sold . we define average transaction or average basket to be the average dollar value of transactions included in the comp sales calculation . story_separator_special_tag 32 homegoods replace_table_token_13_th homegoods ' net sales increased 16 % in fiscal 2018 , on top of a 12 % increase in fiscal 2017. the increase in fiscal 2018 reflected a 10 % increase from new store sales , a 4 % increase from comp sales and a 2 % increase due to the 53 rd week . the sales increase of 12 % in fiscal 2017 reflected a 6 % increase from new store sales and a 6 % increase from comp sales . comp sales growth at homegoods for fiscal 2018 was due to a 4 % increase in customer traffic on top of a 5 % increase in customer traffic in fiscal 2017. comp sales growth in fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2017 was also due to an increase in units sold , which was partially offset by a decrease in the average ticket . segment profit margin decreased to 13.2 % for fiscal 2018 compared to 13.9 % for fiscal 2017. the decrease in segment margin for fiscal 2018 includes a decline in merchandise margin of 0.5 percentage points , primarily as a result of increased freight costs . in addition , higher distribution center costs primarily due to opening a new distribution center , higher store payroll costs , primarily due to wage increases , as well as costs in connection with opening more stores as compared to fiscal 2017 , including our first homesense stores , collectively reduced segment margin by approximately 0.8 percentage points . these costs were partially offset by expense leverage on comp sales growth as well as the benefit of the 53 rd week which lifted segment margin by approximately 0.2 percentage points . segment profit margin for fiscal 2017 was 13.9 % compared to 14.0 % for fiscal 2016. segment margin for fiscal 2017 was favorably impacted by an increase in merchandise margin and expense leverage , primarily occupancy costs , on strong comp sales growth . these increases in segment margin were more than offset by higher payroll costs related to wage increases , an increase in distribution costs , which includes the opening of a new distribution center in fiscal 2017 , and an increase in credit card chargeback costs . in fiscal 2019 , we plan an increase of approximately 85 homegoods stores and 15 homesense stores , which would increase selling square footage by approximately 18 % . 33 foreign segments : tjx canada replace_table_token_14_th net sales for tjx canada increased 15 % in fiscal 2018 , on top of an 11 % increase in fiscal 2017. the increase in sales for fiscal 2018 reflected comp sales growth of 5 % , a 5 % increase from new stores , 3 % from the positive impact of foreign currency translation and a 2 % impact of the 53 rd week . the increase in sales for fiscal 2017 reflected comp sales growth of 8 % and a 5 % increase from new stores offset by 2 % from the negative impact of foreign currency translation . the comp sales increases in fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2017 were primarily due to an increase in customer traffic . segment profit margin increased 1.6 percentage points to 14.6 % in fiscal 2018 compared to 13.0 % in fiscal 2017. the increase in segment margin was primarily due to the combination of an increase in merchandise margin of 0.6 percentage points , which benefitted from the year-over-year increase in the canadian dollar , and expense leverage on the strong comp sales . the increase in the segment margin also included a favorable impact of 0.3 percentage points due to foreign currency , primarily the mark-to-market impact of the inventory derivatives . the fiscal 2018 segment margin also benefitted from the 53 rd week , which lifted the segment margin by approximately 0.1 percentage point . segment profit margin decreased 0.1 percentage point to 13.0 % in fiscal 2017. the decline in segment margin was driven by a decrease in merchandise margin and higher supply chain and distribution center costs , which included the opening of a new distribution center . the decline in merchandise margin was primarily due to transactional foreign exchange as the year-over-year changes in currency exchange rates increased tjx canada 's cost of merchandise purchased in u.s. dollars . these declines in segment margin were largely offset by expense leverage , primarily buying and occupancy costs , on the comp sales growth , as well as the benefit of transactional foreign currency activity resulting in foreign currency gains in fiscal 2017 as compared to foreign currency losses in fiscal 2016. these foreign currency gains and losses result from the timing and settlement of payables denominated in currencies other than the canadian dollar . in fiscal 2019 , we plan an increase of approximately 30 stores in canada , which would increase selling square footage by approximately 6 % . 34 tjx international replace_table_token_15_th net sales for tjx international increased 11 % in fiscal 2018 on top of a 3 % increase in fiscal 2017. the increase in sales for fiscal 2018 reflected a 7 % increase from new stores , comp sales growth of 2 % , and a 2 % benefit from the 53 rd week . foreign currency translation had a neutral impact on fiscal 2018 sales growth . the increase in comp sales for fiscal 2018 was primarily driven by an increase in customer traffic . e-commerce sales represent less than 3 % of tjx international 's net sales . the increase in fiscal 2017 reflected a 12 % increase from new store sales ( which includes a full fiscal year of t.k . maxx in australia ) and a 2 % increase from comp sales , offset by the unfavorable impact from currency translation of 11 % . the increase in comp sales for fiscal 2017 was primarily driven by an increase in customer traffic . segment profit margin decreased to 5.1 %

liquidity and capital resources our liquidity requirements have traditionally been funded through cash generated from operations , supplemented , as needed , by short-term bank borrowings and the issuance of commercial paper . as of february 3 , 2018 , there were no short-term bank borrowings or commercial paper outstanding . we believe our existing cash and cash equivalents , internally generated funds and our credit facilities , described in note j  long term debt and credit lines of notes to consolidated financial statements , are more than adequate to meet our operating needs over the next fiscal year . as of february 3 , 2018 , tjx held $ 2.8 billion in cash and $ 0.5 billion in short-term investments . approximately $ 1.8 billion of our cash was held by our foreign subsidiaries with $ 398.6 million held in countries where we provisionally intend to indefinitely reinvest any undistributed earnings . tjx has provided for all applicable state and foreign withholding taxes on all undistributed earnings of its foreign subsidiaries in canada , puerto rico , italy , india , hong kong and vietnam through february 3 , 2018. if we repatriate cash from such subsidiaries , we should not incur additional tax expense and our cash would be reduced by the amount of withholding taxes paid . we expect to repatriate more than $ 1 billion in cash from our subsidiary in canada during fiscal 2019. additionally , as part of the 2017 tax act we recorded a transition tax related to the undistributed earnings of our foreign subsidiaries of $ 193 million which is payable over 8 years . operating activities : net cash provided by operating activities was $ 3.0 billion in fiscal 2018 , $ 3.6 billion in fiscal 2017 and $ 3.0 billion in fiscal 2016. the cash generated from operating activities in each of these fiscal years was largely due to operating earnings .


 Write a concise suspicious activity report of the following text delimited by triple backquotes. Return your response as a formal report which covers the key points highlighting the location,dates,entity names and account holder information in chronological order of the text.
     ```liquidity and capital resources our liquidity requirements have traditionally been funded through cash generated from operations , supplemented , as needed , by short-term bank borrowings and the issuance of commercial paper . as of february 3 , 2018 , there were no short-term bank borrowings or commercial paper outstanding . we believe our existing cash and cash equivalents , internally generated funds and our credit facilities , described in note j  long term debt and credit lines of notes to consolidated financial statements , are more than adequate to meet our operating needs over the next fiscal year . as of february 3 , 2018 , tjx held $ 2.8 billion in cash and $ 0.5 billion in short-term investments . approximately $ 1.8 billion of our cash was held by our foreign subsidiaries with $ 398.6 million held in countries where we provisionally intend to indefinitely reinvest any undistributed earnings . tjx has provided for all applicable state and foreign withholding taxes on all undistributed earnings of its foreign subsidiaries in canada , puerto rico , italy , india , hong kong and vietnam through february 3 , 2018. if we repatriate cash from such subsidiaries , we should not incur additional tax expense and our cash would be reduced by the amount of withholding taxes paid . we expect to repatriate more than $ 1 billion in cash from our subsidiary in canada during fiscal 2019. additionally , as part of the 2017 tax act we recorded a transition tax related to the undistributed earnings of our foreign subsidiaries of $ 193 million which is payable over 8 years . operating activities : net cash provided by operating activities was $ 3.0 billion in fiscal 2018 , $ 3.6 billion in fiscal 2017 and $ 3.0 billion in fiscal 2016. the cash generated from operating activities in each of these fiscal years was largely due to operating earnings .
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 Suspicious Activity Report :  our fiscal 2018 pre-tax margin ( the ratio of pre-tax income to net sales ) was 10.8 % , a 0.4 percentage point decrease compared to 11.2 % in fiscal 2017. the impairment charge relating to stp and the cost of incremental investments we made in connection with the 2017 tax act collectively reduced pre-tax margin by 0.6 percentage points while the 53 rd week in the fiscal 2018 calendar lifted pretax margin by approximately 0.1 percentage point . fiscal 2017 pre-tax margin was reduced by 0.3 percentage points due to the two third quarter charges referred to above .  our cost of sales , including buying and occupancy costs , ratio for fiscal 2018 was 71.1 % , a 0.1 percentage point increase compared to 71.0 % in fiscal 2017. this increase was driven by higher supply chain costs partially offset by the favorable impact of mark-to-market of inventory derivatives and a benefit from the 53 rd week in the fiscal 2018 calendar . merchandise margins were flat compared to fiscal 2017 .  our selling , general and administrative ( sg & a ) expense ratio for fiscal 2018 was 17.8 % , a 0.4 percentage point increase from 17.4 % in fiscal 2017. the incremental investments described below related to the 2017 tax act increased the fiscal 2018 expense ratio by 0.3 percentage points . the remaining increase is primarily due to higher store payroll costs due to wage increases .  our consolidated average per store inventories , including inventory on hand at our distribution centers ( which excludes inventory in transit ) and excluding our e-commerce businesses , increased 6 % on a reported basis and increased 4 % on a constant currency basis at the end of fiscal 2018 as compared to the prior year .  during fiscal 2018 , we repurchased 22.3 million shares of our common stock for $ 1.7 billion , on a trade date basis . earnings per share reflect the benefit of the stock repurchase program . with $ 1.1 billion remaining under previously announced stock repurchase programs , our board of directors approved our 19 th stock repurchase program that authorizes the repurchase of up to an additional $ 3.0 billion . 27 the following is a discussion of our consolidated operating results , followed by a discussion of our segment operating results . tax cuts and jobs act of 2017 : on december 22 , 2017 , the 2017 tax act was enacted into law which , among other things , includes a one-time mandatory transition tax on accumulated foreign undistributed earnings and a reduction of the u.s. corporate income tax rate to 21 percent , effective january 1 , 2018. the change in the u.s. income tax rate also requires us to revalue our deferred tax assets and liabilities . although we are still evaluating the impact of the 2017 tax act on tjx , the company has estimated the impact of the 2017 tax act which resulted in a reduction of the full year tax provision . the company has reinvested a portion of these tax benefits by approving a discretionary bonus to eligible non-bonus plan associates globally , providing an incremental contribution to the company 's defined contribution retirement plans for eligible associates in the u.s. and internationally , as well as making contributions to the company 's charitable foundations , collectively referred to as incremental investments related to the 2017 tax act. the tax benefits recognized due to the 2017 tax act , offset by the after-tax impact of incremental investments we made related to the 2017 tax act , resulted in a net benefit to net income of $ 0.17 per share for the fiscal 2018 fourth quarter and full year . net sales : consolidated net sales for fiscal 2018 totaled $ 35.9 billion , an 8 % increase over $ 33.2 billion in fiscal 2017. the increase reflected a 4 % increase from new stores , a 2 % increase from comp sales , and a 2 % increase from the impact of the 53 rd week in the fiscal 2018 calendar . foreign currency had a neutral impact in fiscal 2018. net sales from our e-commerce businesses amounted to approximately 2 % of total sales and had an immaterial impact on fiscal 2018 sales growth . consolidated net sales for fiscal 2017 totaled $ 33.2 billion , a 7 % increase over $ 30.9 billion in fiscal 2016. the increase reflected a 5 % increase from comp sales and a 4 % increase from new stores , offset by a 2 % negative impact from foreign currency exchange rates . comparable store sales : we define comparable store sales ( comp sales ) , formerly referred to as same-store sales , to be sales of stores that have been in operation for all or a portion of two consecutive fiscal years , or in other words , stores that are starting their third fiscal year of operation . we calculate comp sales on a 52-week basis by comparing the current and prior year weekly periods that are most closely aligned . relocated stores and stores that have changed in size are generally classified in the same way as the original store , and we believe that the impact of these stores on the consolidated comp percentage is immaterial . we define customer traffic to be the number of transactions in stores included in the comp sales calculation and average ticket to be the average retail price of the units sold . we define average transaction or average basket to be the average dollar value of transactions included in the comp sales calculation . story_separator_special_tag 32 homegoods replace_table_token_13_th homegoods ' net sales increased 16 % in fiscal 2018 , on top of a 12 % increase in fiscal 2017. the increase in fiscal 2018 reflected a 10 % increase from new store sales , a 4 % increase from comp sales and a 2 % increase due to the 53 rd week . the sales increase of 12 % in fiscal 2017 reflected a 6 % increase from new store sales and a 6 % increase from comp sales . comp sales growth at homegoods for fiscal 2018 was due to a 4 % increase in customer traffic on top of a 5 % increase in customer traffic in fiscal 2017. comp sales growth in fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2017 was also due to an increase in units sold , which was partially offset by a decrease in the average ticket . segment profit margin decreased to 13.2 % for fiscal 2018 compared to 13.9 % for fiscal 2017. the decrease in segment margin for fiscal 2018 includes a decline in merchandise margin of 0.5 percentage points , primarily as a result of increased freight costs . in addition , higher distribution center costs primarily due to opening a new distribution center , higher store payroll costs , primarily due to wage increases , as well as costs in connection with opening more stores as compared to fiscal 2017 , including our first homesense stores , collectively reduced segment margin by approximately 0.8 percentage points . these costs were partially offset by expense leverage on comp sales growth as well as the benefit of the 53 rd week which lifted segment margin by approximately 0.2 percentage points . segment profit margin for fiscal 2017 was 13.9 % compared to 14.0 % for fiscal 2016. segment margin for fiscal 2017 was favorably impacted by an increase in merchandise margin and expense leverage , primarily occupancy costs , on strong comp sales growth . these increases in segment margin were more than offset by higher payroll costs related to wage increases , an increase in distribution costs , which includes the opening of a new distribution center in fiscal 2017 , and an increase in credit card chargeback costs . in fiscal 2019 , we plan an increase of approximately 85 homegoods stores and 15 homesense stores , which would increase selling square footage by approximately 18 % . 33 foreign segments : tjx canada replace_table_token_14_th net sales for tjx canada increased 15 % in fiscal 2018 , on top of an 11 % increase in fiscal 2017. the increase in sales for fiscal 2018 reflected comp sales growth of 5 % , a 5 % increase from new stores , 3 % from the positive impact of foreign currency translation and a 2 % impact of the 53 rd week . the increase in sales for fiscal 2017 reflected comp sales growth of 8 % and a 5 % increase from new stores offset by 2 % from the negative impact of foreign currency translation . the comp sales increases in fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2017 were primarily due to an increase in customer traffic . segment profit margin increased 1.6 percentage points to 14.6 % in fiscal 2018 compared to 13.0 % in fiscal 2017. the increase in segment margin was primarily due to the combination of an increase in merchandise margin of 0.6 percentage points , which benefitted from the year-over-year increase in the canadian dollar , and expense leverage on the strong comp sales . the increase in the segment margin also included a favorable impact of 0.3 percentage points due to foreign currency , primarily the mark-to-market impact of the inventory derivatives . the fiscal 2018 segment margin also benefitted from the 53 rd week , which lifted the segment margin by approximately 0.1 percentage point . segment profit margin decreased 0.1 percentage point to 13.0 % in fiscal 2017. the decline in segment margin was driven by a decrease in merchandise margin and higher supply chain and distribution center costs , which included the opening of a new distribution center . the decline in merchandise margin was primarily due to transactional foreign exchange as the year-over-year changes in currency exchange rates increased tjx canada 's cost of merchandise purchased in u.s. dollars . these declines in segment margin were largely offset by expense leverage , primarily buying and occupancy costs , on the comp sales growth , as well as the benefit of transactional foreign currency activity resulting in foreign currency gains in fiscal 2017 as compared to foreign currency losses in fiscal 2016. these foreign currency gains and losses result from the timing and settlement of payables denominated in currencies other than the canadian dollar . in fiscal 2019 , we plan an increase of approximately 30 stores in canada , which would increase selling square footage by approximately 6 % . 34 tjx international replace_table_token_15_th net sales for tjx international increased 11 % in fiscal 2018 on top of a 3 % increase in fiscal 2017. the increase in sales for fiscal 2018 reflected a 7 % increase from new stores , comp sales growth of 2 % , and a 2 % benefit from the 53 rd week . foreign currency translation had a neutral impact on fiscal 2018 sales growth . the increase in comp sales for fiscal 2018 was primarily driven by an increase in customer traffic . e-commerce sales represent less than 3 % of tjx international 's net sales . the increase in fiscal 2017 reflected a 12 % increase from new store sales ( which includes a full fiscal year of t.k . maxx in australia ) and a 2 % increase from comp sales , offset by the unfavorable impact from currency translation of 11 % . the increase in comp sales for fiscal 2017 was primarily driven by an increase in customer traffic . segment profit margin decreased to 5.1 %

