The Ankeny-based Casey’s convenience store chain report a 15.7% increase in revenue for the second quarter based in part on the strength of gas sales, and despite some costs from a failed hostile takeover attempt. Chief financial officer Gary Walljasper, gave the financial report today in a conference call.
Walljasper says basic earnings per share in the quarter were 51-cents, compared to 66 cents one year ago. The results included some 19-million dollars in expenses for the company’s stock purchase plan and other actions related to the Alimentation Couche-Tard takeover attempt. He says without those expenses, the earnings per share would have been 81 cents.
Casey’s purchased some 13-million shares of its own stock in a successful effort to fight the Canadian company’s takeover attempt. Walljasper says the number of gallons of gas sold at current stores was up 3.6% in the second quarter. He says the solid earnings performance was driven by a “strong gasoline environment,” and double-digit increases in sales inside the stores.
Walljasper says the average margin for gas sales was 14.9 cents per gallon — compared to 14.3 cents one year ago. He says the year-to-date gas margin is 15.7 cents a gallon, well ahead of their annual goal of 13.5 cents. The average price of gas was up by 20 cents in November compared to last year, but Walljasper says that did not impact sales.
“It’s a pleasant surprise, typically when you see a higher retail movement period over period, you see a pull back in gallons sold,” Walljasper says, “I think it may be a situation where the consumers in our market area have somewhat gotten acclimated to the prolonged economic downturn and are getting back to their normal day-to-day travel expectations.”
The total gallons of gas sold by the chain for the year are up 8% to just over 712 million.
