Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. on Sept. 4 reported fiscal first quarter 2020 earnings that topped analyst expectations despite falling fuel sales across all of the markets where the company operates.
For the 12 weeks ended July 21, the Laval, Quebec-based convenience store operator saw adjusted diluted net EPS rise 11.5% to 97 U.S. cents from 87 cents a year ago. The figure beat the S&P Global Market Intelligence consensus estimate for normalized EPS of 95 cents.
Adjusted net earnings attributable to shareholders came in at US$548 million, up 11.8% year over year from US$490 million and from the Market Intelligence estimate for net income excluding exceptions of US$524.5 million with three analysts reporting.
Revenue for the period fell 4.2% to US$14.16 billion from US$14.79 billion after sales from transportation fuels dropped 4.8% year over year to US$10.37 billion from US$10.90 billion. Couche-Tard has seen a drop in fuel revenue across the U.S., Europe, Canada and its CrossAmerica Partners LP operations during the quarter.
Meanwhile, revenue from the company's merchandise and service operations inched up 1.6% to US$3.61 billion from US$3.55 billion last year after sales in both the U.S. and Couche-Tard's home market of Canada grew. In Europe, merchandise and service revenue dropped 4.2%, while the elimination of the company's transactions with CrossAmerica Partners has seen a 28.6% plunge in merchandise and revenues for the business unit.
Couche-Tard, which operates Circle K service stations, opened 29 new company-operated outlets and closed 35 during the 12-week period. A total of 2,248 Circle K branded sites under licensing agreements were in operation during the fiscal first quarter.
The company's board declared a quarterly dividend of 12.5 Canadian cents per share, before the share split, for the first quarter of fiscal 2020. The dividend is payable Sept. 27 to shareholders of record as of Sept. 13.
