EL DORADO, Ark. --Murphy USA reported second-quarter 2016 net income of $46.3 million, a significant increase compared to $26.2 million in second-quarter 2015.
Also, income from continuing operations, adjusted EBITDA and earnings per share improved in the quarter due to higher retail fuel margins, higher network fuel volumes, increased merchandise margins and higher RIN (renewable identification number) sales, the El Dorado, Ark.-based company said.
“Second-quarter results showcased the benefits of our differentiated fuel-driven business model,” said president and CEO Andrew Clyde. “We continue to demonstrate tangible progress among the core elements of our formula for value creation as we accelerate new store additions, generate record merchandise margins and diligently focus on cost control initiatives, all of which result in strong improvement to our fuel break-even metric.”
Total retail fuel contribution dollars increased 22.5% in the second quarter, and total network retail gallons sold increased 2.2% to 1.03 billion gallons, while same-store gallons declined by 1.3%.
Per-store volumes declined 2.5% on an average-per-store-month (APSM) basis due to the high number of new stores opened in fourth-quarter 2015 that are still ramping up operations, Murphy USA said. This includes a higher mix of Midwest locations that historically perform below the chain average.
Due to the aforementioned mix of new stores in the Midwest, same-store sales were down 0.1% year over year. However, total merchandise contribution dollars grew 10.8% year over year to $92.7 million at average unit margins of 15.7%, which is a second consecutive quarterly record. This is attributable to new store additions and Core-Mark supply contract benefits, as well as per store improvements from pricing and promotional effectiveness.
Fifteen stores opened during the second quarter, including seven raze-and-rebuilds, bringing the quarter-end store count to 1,344; 226 of those are Murphy Express sites.
A total of 40 stores are under construction along with three kiosks undergoing a raze-and-rebuild, which will return to operation as 1,200-square-foot stores during the third quarter.
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