Altria Group Inc., the largest U.S. tobacco company, posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday thanks to price increases and cost cuts, which offset falling U.S. cigarette volume, Reuters reported. The parent of Marlboro cigarette maker Philip Morris USA and Copenhagen tobacco maker U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. also raised its full-year earnings forecast. [...]
Coles Energy, operator of Mickey Mart, recently began switching many of its nearly 30 locations in north-central Ohio from BP stations to Shell stations, the Port Clinton News Herald reported. “It’s definitely good news for customers,” said Jason Appel, the man in charge of vendor relations with Coles Energy Inc./Mickey Mart. He added that [...]
The far-reaching impact of the U.S. housing slump is well known, and now it’s trickling down to affect some beverage sales, Reuters reported. PepsiCo noted that the company’s Gatorade sports drink sales had declined, while its sales of sodas and Tropicana juices featured a better-than-expected quarterly profit. This lead PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi to [...]
Richard, Texas-based Titan Global Holdings Inc., accused of defrauding Crescent Oil, which eventually filed for bankruptcy, is fighting back, saying it was the victim of fraud, the Associated Press reported. Last week, Titan counter-sued in response to a lawsuit filed in May by Philip Near, former president of Crescent Oil Co. Inc., [...]
With tobacco taxes sky high and citizens counting cash in a recession, cigarette smuggling is more common than ever, but states are cracking down in an effort to solve budget woes, the Wall Street Journal reported. Florida, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Rhode Island and Virginia are among the States that stepped up law-enforcement [...]
The Competition Bureau, an independent Canadian law enforcement agency, has approved the merger of Suncor Energy, a Canadian integrated energy company, and Petro-Canada, istock analysis reported. As part of the agreement, the companies will maintain retail and wholesale competition in Ontario, including divesting 104 retail locations, and will enter into certain supply and [...]
This Summer, from July 14 to Aug. 31, Wawa is making a difference in the community by hosting more than 25 blood drive sites in four of its operating states: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia. Wawa’s goal for this year is to raise 2,000 pints of blood and to help The American [...]
Poker fans don’t have to wait for The World Series of Poker in November to get their fill of the game. Thanks to the launch of an integrated social media application sponsorship program between ampm and Texas Hold’em Poker-a Zynga game that is the most played poker game on MySpace and Facebook-poker fanatics [...]
By Brian L. Milne, Refined Fuels Editor for Telvent DTN After declining since late June, retail gasoline prices will turn higher in most of the country’s metropolitan markets, pushed up by climbing wholesale costs. The rise at the pump will vary nationally, with markets in the upper Midwest likely to see flat to [...]
An ordinance in Springdale, Ark., prohibits businesses, such as gas stations and grocery stores from selling alcoholic beverages. But the local Murphy Express on Sunset Avenue found a way around the system, KFSM-TV, the Fort Smith-Fayetteville Arkansas News, reported. Murphy Express took its beer-selling request before the State Alcohol Beverage Control Board (ABC) in [...]
Two of the most dominant players in the country’s Underground Storage Tank (UST) services market are joining forces in a strategic alliance to provide petroleum operators throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern U.S. with turn-key UST compliance, repair and maintenance and construction solutions. Austin, Texas-based Tanknology Inc, the nation’s largest provider of environmental compliance [...]
Sheetz, Altoona, Pa., which operates more than 350 convenience locations throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina, and M&T Bank announced the grand prize winner for the Gas for a Year Sweepstakes on Tuesday. Robert Buck of Cumberland, Md., took home the grand prize: free gas for a year. The total [...]
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. will divest about 75 of its Circle K stores in the coming months. NRC Realty Advisors LLC (NRC) is handling the proposed divestiture. The final list of properties to be divested has not been established, but is expected to include properties in various markets in Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, [...]
A new book by Evanston, Ill.-based engineer and journalist Christopher Steiner explores how society would respond if gas reached $20 per gallon, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Steiner’s book, $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better, is an optimistic look at a [...]