ANKENY, Iowa -- On October 15, 2008, Casey's General Stores Inc. reported September 2008 same-store sales results for stores open for one full year, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). The regional convenience retailer said that same-store gasoline gallons sold decreased 1.1% in September 2008 compared to September 2007. The gasoline margin was above the Ankeny, Iowa-based company's fiscal 2009 goal of 10.8 cents per gallon. The average retail price of gasoline sold during September 2008 was $3.52 per gallon.
Same-store sales of grocery and other [image-nocss] merchandise increased 2.4% and prepared food and fountain same-store sales increased 6.6% in September 2008 compared to September 2007, the filing said.
"Casey & General Stores [stock symbol CASY] has been trading ahead of the broader market amid recent turmoil and over the long-term. While grocers and food retailers have been slowing down, convenience stores like Casey's have been outperforming. CASY has been consistently outperforming the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. The company offers a dividend yield of 1.2%, while the majority of its industry peers pay no dividend at all," Alex Kolb of Chicago-based Zacks Investment Research said in a report posted on the firm's website. "The company reported an all-time high in earnings for the first fiscal quarter."
Casey's reported earnings per share from continuing operations of 57 cents for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 ended July 31, 2008. Total sales rose 22.4% from the previous first quarter to $1.6 billion, and gross profit increased 5.7% to $199 million. "The results include a charge of $2.6 million related to flood damages. If these costs were eliminated, our earnings would have exceeded the record high 59 cents we reported a year ago," president and CEO Robert J. Myers said in early September. "We achieved excellent growth in a challenging economy, and our results give us a solid start toward our fiscal 2009 performance goals." (Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage.)
The nine-state, 1,450-site chain is expanding with a new store design. Bill Walljasper, senior vice president and CFO, told CSP Daily News in late September that the chain is more than ready to "move into additional states outside of its core market area."He said the doubling of the capacity if its Ankeny distribution center about two years ago and Casey's solid financial standing put it in a perfect position to build new stores, remodel and acquire. "We're looking at numerous opportunities in border states," he said. (Click here for details on the new design.)
Casey's owns and operates c-stores in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. It operates primarily in smaller communities with populations of less than 5,000.
The company intends to open 20 to 25 new stores in this fiscal year, which for Casey's ends April 30. In addition to that projection, the chain will replace another 20 stores with the new design and take 10 additional stores and put those locations through the remodel process. In the end, the chain will have 50 to 55 stores operating with the new look by next spring.
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