BP Offers $30,000 To Atlas Oil

BP Offers $30,000 To Atlas Oil

After receiving a recent $30,000 rebate from BP Corp., Taylor, Mich.-based Atlas Oil Co. is considering investing in capital improvements and image building for its network of BP gas station retailers affected by customer boycotts, following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Crain’s Detroit Business reported. Atlas is a fuel distributor to about 70 BP [...]

Couche-Tard’s Bid Gains Appeal

Couche-Tard’s Bid Gains Appeal

A recent drop in the S&P 500 might help Quebec-based Alimentation Couche-Tard’s hostile US$1.9-billion ($36 per share) bid for Casey’s General Stores look like a more attractive option, an industry analyst told the Winnipeg Free Press. Martin Landry of Desjardins Securities told the paper that the 14% premium offered by Couche-Tard has increased in appeal [...]

Casey’s: Couche-Tard Using “Questionable Tactics”

Casey’s: Couche-Tard Using “Questionable Tactics”

Casey’s General Stores Inc.’s Board of Directors voted to recommend that Casey’s shareholders reject Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.’s $36.00 per common share cash tender offer, stating that it substantially undervalues Casey’s and is not in the best interests of Casey’s, its shareholders and other constituencies. On June 8, Casey’s filed a Schedule 14D-9 with the Securities [...]

Couche-Tard Nominates Casey’s Board Candidates

Couche-Tard Nominates Casey’s Board Candidates

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. has provided formal notice to Casey’s General Stores Inc. of its intention to nominate a slate of nine independent candidates for election to the Casey’s Board of Directors and present a proposal for shareholder action at Casey’s 2010 annual meeting of shareholders. “Though it remains our strong preference to enter into a [...]

Valero Reports Q1 Results

Valero Reports Q1 Results

In the first quarter of 2010, Valero Energy Corp. reported a loss of $101 million from continuing operations (or $0.18 per share) compared to the first quarter of 2009 gain from continuing operations of $364 million ($0.70 per share). The first quarter 2010 operating loss was $32 million, versus first quarter 2009 operating gain of [...]

Casey’s Debuts on Fortune 500

Casey’s Debuts on Fortune 500

Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey’s General Stores has made its first appearance in the Fortune 500 list, the Des Moines Register reported today. The c-store chain debuts at No. 485 on Fortune magazine’s annual ranking of the country’s 500 largest corporations by revenue. The list is in the May 3 edition, which is hitting mailboxes now. Bill [...]

Casey’s Uses Poison Pill Defense

Casey’s Uses Poison Pill Defense

Canadian c-store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard is calling on Casey’s General Stores to discuss its bid, as the Iowa-based chain moves to instead thwart the hostile acquisition, the Globe and Mail reported. “A meeting would be more productive than putting roadblocks, like a poison pill, in the path of our compelling proposal,” Couche-Tard said in a statement. [...]

Has Gasoline Posted its Seasonal High Already?

Has Gasoline Posted its Seasonal High Already?

Brian L. Milne, Refined Fuels Editor, Telvent DTN Nationally, the average price for regular grade gasoline spiked to a $2.858 gallon 17-month high on April 12, according to the Energy Information Administration which surveys for this information, and wholesale costs have increased in most of the country’s metropolitan markets since. Those wholesale cost increases will [...]

Casey’s Rejects Unsolicited Couche-Tard Bid

Casey’s Rejects Unsolicited Couche-Tard Bid

Following an unsolicited proposal from Alimentation Couche-Tard, Casey’s General Stores stock grew 20.7% to $38.10 in premarket trading Monday after the company unanimously rejected the offer, The Street reported. Casey’s received the unsolicited buyout proposal for $36 a share in cash on March 9. In a statement released on April 9, Casey’s said “the board [...]

Couche-Tard Makes Unsolicited Bid for Casey’s Stores

Couche-Tard Makes Unsolicited Bid for Casey’s Stores

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., the Canadian convenience-store chain, made an unsolicited bid for Casey’s General Stores Inc. for $36 a share in cash, BusinessWeek reported Couche-Tard offered the Ankeny, Iowa-based company, which operates more than 1,500 stores in the Midwest, 14% more than its closing price yesterday in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Including about $29 million [...]

Couche-Tard Quarterly Profit Down 23%

Couche-Tard Quarterly Profit Down 23%

Alimentation Couche-Tard announced today that despite rising revenue, its quarterly profit dropped 23% due to lower U.S. gasoline margins, Reuters reported. Couche-Tard, North America’s second-biggest convenience store chain, operates more than 5,400 convenience stores, with some 3,600 of those also selling gasoline. The company earned $54.8 million, or 29 cents a share, in its third-quarter, [...]

Casey’s Earnings Increase 23%

Casey’s Earnings Increase 23%

Casey’s General Stores Inc. reported $0.34 in basic earnings per share for the third quarter of fiscal 2010 ended Jan. 31, 2010, compared to $0.28 for the same quarter a year ago. Year to date, basic earnings per share were $1.87 versus $1.38 for the same period last year. “The acquisition environment has become more [...]

Healthful Food Choices A National Issue

Healthful Food Choices A National Issue

 In his FY 2011 budget proposal, President Barack Obama addressed the need for bringing healthy food options to underserved communities by calling for more than $400 million in investments in new and expanded supermarkets, farmers markets and other food stores. The public-private grant and loan program would dramatically reduce the roughly 23 million Americans who [...]

The Pantry Inc. Posts First Quarter Loss

The Pantry Inc. Posts First Quarter Loss

  The Pantry Inc. has reported a wider-than-expected first-quarter loss, due to below-average fuel and grocery margins, Reuters reported. For the first quarter ended Dec. 24, the company posted a net loss of $26.1 million, or $1.17 a share, compared with a profit of $38.5 million, or $1.73 a share, last year. Excluding 90 cents [...]

Susser Holdings Provides Fourth Quarter and 2009 Results

Susser Holdings Provides Fourth Quarter and 2009 Results

Corpus Christi, Texas-based Susser Holdings Corporation said it expects to report a same-store merchandise sales decline of about 1.2% for the fourth quarter of 2009 and growth of about 3.3% for the full year. Retail average per-store fuel volumes are expected to decline by 5.9% versus the fourth quarter of last year, but on a [...]