Other nicotine products helped drive growth in Alimentation Couche-Tard’s first quarter of fiscal year 2027, executives said during the company’s earnings call Wednesday.
In the United States, other nicotine products delivered “one of their best quarters in recent years, posting double-digit same-store sales growth led by pouches, significantly outpacing the broader market,” Alex Miller, president and CEO, said, according to a transcript from financial services site AlphaSense.
In cigarettes, Miller said same-store sales increased for a third consecutive quarter.
“While growth moderated from the strong performance we saw in the fourth quarter, we still outperformed industry volume trends by roughly 400 basis points, reflecting the effectiveness of our pricing, promotional and loyalty strategies.”
- Alimentation Couche-Tard is No. 2 on CSP’s 2026 Top 202 ranking of convenience-store chains by U.S. store count.
The Laval, Quebec-based owner of Circle K convenience stores held its earnings call Wednesday for the quarter ending July 19. The company reported net earnings were $828.5 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, compared with $782.5 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2026.
During the question-and-answer session regarding U.S. same-store sales performance, Miller acknowledged the company’s core product categories continued to demonstrate significant strength during the quarter, including nicotine products.
He said cigarette sales grew 3.6% in the fourth quarter and 1.8% in the current quarter, representing solid growth despite the deceleration from the previous quarter.
“We’re delivering in nicotine,” he said. “We obviously grew other nicotine by even a greater number and continue to capture material share in that growing instance where our gross profit now is very similar in the U.S. from other nicotine to cigarettes, and it's actually significantly higher in Europe than cigarettes are.”
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. owns the Circle K brand. Its network includes more than 7,100 stores in the United States, primarily under the Circle K banner, and about 2,100 in Canada under the Circle K and Couche-Tard banners.
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