Alex Miller, president and CEO of Alimentation Couche-Tard, addressed the company’s ongoing commitment to acquire Seven & i Holdings Co. Ltd. in the Circle K owner's Tuesday earnings call.
“No doubt you have seen much in the media about our most recent proposal to purchase the entire business as well as our visit to Japan to learn more about its store operations and to meet with key stakeholders,” Miller said. “We continue to see a strong opportunity to grow together and enhance our offerings and service to millions of customers across the globe.
“We also remain confident in our ability to finance and complete this combination,” he continued. “We will be persistent and continue our friendly approach to creating what we see as the most compelling outcome for all shareholders, employees and key constituencies of both companies.”
Couche-Tard in August submitted an acquisition proposal to Seven & i. The board of Seven & i formed a special committee of independent outside directors to review the offer. It has rejected the initial proposal twice, saying the bid “undervalues” the company. Couche-Tard has since raised its offer, from $14.86 per share or approximately $39 billion, to $18.19 per share or approximately $47.2 billion.
- Alimentation Couche-Tard is No. 2 on CSP’s 2024 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count.
During the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, Alimentation Couche-Tard entered into a binding agreement to acquire 270 company-owned and operated convenience retail and fuel sites operating under the Pittsburgh-based GetGo Cafe + Market brand from Giant Eagle. Subsequent to the end of the quarter, the corporation entered into a binding agreement to acquire 20 company-owned and operated convenience retail and fuel sites operating under the Hutch’s brand, Elk City, Oklahoma.
Alimentation Couche-Tard's net earnings for the quarter were $708.8 million compared with $819.2 million for the same quarter of fiscal 2024, the company said during its earnings call. The quarter ended Oct. 13.
Adjusted net earnings were about $705 million compared with $792 million for the second quarter a year earlier.
Gross profit at the Laval, Quebec-based company was $3.2 billion for the second quarter of fiscal 2025, up by $214.5 million, or 7.3%, compared with the same quarter of fiscal 2024.
EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) stood at $1.5 billion, an increase of $37.4 million, or 2.5%, compared with the same quarter of fiscal 2024. Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter of fiscal 2025 increased by $36.1 million, or 2.4%, compared with the corresponding quarter of fiscal 2024.
Revenues were $17.4 billion for the second quarter of fiscal 2025, up by $979.7 million, an increase of 6% from a year earlier and “mainly attributable to the contribution from acquisitions and higher revenues in our wholesale fuel business, partly offset by a lower average road transportation fuel selling price, and softness in fuel demand and traffic as low income consumers are impacted by challenging economic conditions,” the company said.
For the first half-year of fiscal 2025, revenues increased by $3.6 billion, or 11.3%, compared with a year earlier.
Hurricane Response
Miller on the call also acknowledged the “heroic work of our teams across the Southeastern U.S. who had to contend with two major hurricanes: Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, which impacted four of our business units within two weeks of each other.”
The hurricanes shut down hundreds of the company’s stores mainly due to power loss, “but thanks to the extraordinary efforts of our operations, fuel, facilities and logistics teams, we were able to open all but a handful of them within a few days, make sure all our team members were safe and provide our communities with essential goods and services,” he said. “This took massive coordination and outstanding dedication by thousands of team members, and I could not be more proud of how as one team they helped each other and our customers and communities.”
Laval, Quebec-based Alimentation Couche-Tard operates in 29 countries and territories, with more than 16,700 stores, of which almost 13,100 offer road transportation fuel. Its network includes more than 7,100 stores in the United States, primarily under the Circle K and Holiday Stationstores banners, and approximately 2,100 in Canada under the Circle K, Mac’s and Couche-Tard banners. In Europe, under the Circle K and other banners, Couche-Tard operates a retail network in Scandinavia, Ireland, Poland, the Baltics and Russia with more than 2,700 stores and unmanned automated fuel stations. And under licensing agreements, more than 2,200 stores operate under the Circle K banner in 15 other countries and territories (Cambodia, Egypt, Guam, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Jamaica, Macau, Mexico, Mongolia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam). This brings Couche-Tard’s total worldwide network to approximately 14,400 stores.
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