by John Keller | Nov 29, 2010 | Retail Fuel Margins
Retail fuel margins in the US improved by $.0134 per gallon to reach $.1712 per gallon, according to the second quarter financial report from Alimentation Couche-Tard. These retail fuel margin improvments helped net earnings improve by 19.7%. The company also cited additional sites offering fuel as a reason for the improved earnings.
Alain Bouchard, president and chief executive officer, said it was the company’s focus on margins that allowed them to deliver good results, as well as their focus on merchandise sales and expense control.
Fuel volumes in the US were up .5%. Total fuel gross profit in the US hit $143 million USD, and in Canada fuel gross profit hit $33 million USD, for a total of $176 million USD for the quarter. For the past two quarters, US fuel margins hit $.1811 per gallon.
by John Keller | Nov 19, 2010 | Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
Retail fuel margins were a key factor in the financial results reported by TravelCenters of America for the three months ended September 30, 2010. Highlights of the report:
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- Total retail fuel sales were approximately $1.193 billion across 229 sites. That calculates to an average retail fuel sales per site of approximately $5.209 million, or $1.736 million per site per month.
- Same site retail fuel sales volume increased 5.6% over Q3 of 2009.
- Total gross retail fuel margins were $74.6 million, which is $14.2 million higher for the third quarter of 2010 than the third quarter of 2009.
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The report doesn’t explicitly list the retail fuel margins per gallon, but if average fuel prices were in the $3/gallon range, that would equate to a $.17 to $.18 margin per gallon.
The report listed one primary reason for the improved retail fuel margins as being a greater number of days of declining fuel commodity prices throughout the third quarter of 2010, as compared to the same quarter of the prior year. “Although other factors have an effect, retail fuel margins per gallon tend to be lower during periods of rising fuel prices and higher during periods of falling fuel prices” the report said.
by John Keller | Nov 15, 2010 | Retail Fuel Margins
Delek US announced in its 2010 Q3 results that retail fuel margins increased to 19.6 cents per gallon with total gallons sold of 108.2m across their 420 c-store locations. That works out to be 85,873 gallons per month at each store.
Their retail fuel margin of 19.6 cents per gallon is 1.6 cents up from their retail fuel margins for the same quarter last year. Delek attributed their retail fuel margin gains to their E-10 blended fuel program and their strategic fuel price management efforts.
Same store fuel gallons sold increased 5.2% in the quarter. Their total number of c-stores was down to 420 locations from 452 locations the previous year. Delek operates under the MAPCO brand name in the Southeast US, more than half of which are in Tennessee.
These earnings reflect another data point as evidence to a strong 2010 across the retail fuel industry.
by John Keller | Oct 1, 2010 | Retail Fuel Margins
Marathon Oil reported in their quarterly financial earnings statement a 26% increase in retail fuel margins. Gasoline and distillate gross retail fuel margin per gallon averaged 13.28 cents in the second quarter of 2010, compared to 10.51 cents in the second quarter of 2009.
This earnings report is more good news in a long line of positive reports from c-store companies who are reporting increased retail fuel margins in 2010. At this rate, 2010 will go down in the history books as a blockbuster.
by John Keller | Sep 14, 2010 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Optimization, Retail Fuel Margins
According to NACS Online, demand for Diesel fuel in the US is on the rise, while demand for E85 is on the decline.
While still not at its 2006 peak demand where it reached 4% of the fuel market, demand for Diesel this year is back up to 2.2% of the market, with a projected increase of 2.9% by 2013.
Meanwhile, E85 has fallen from its 2008 peak down to 1.4% market share this year. Supporters of E85 explain the decrease on what they see as a standard cyclical pattern of E85 fuel use, impacted by the relative price of gasoline.
While these statistical numbers are valid across the US as a whole, each Fuel Manager must carefully monitor trends of Diesel and E85 on a market by market basis. For example, the largest US branded retail chain of E85 is Cenex, and they report a 20% increase in E85 this year. In Minnesota, however, E85 is down 25% from its peak level in 2008.
Only by carefully monitoring trends in in each of his markets can the Fuel Manager be sure his Fuel Price Management strategies are being successful.
by John Keller | Aug 25, 2010 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Optimization, Retail Fuel Margins
According to today’s “This Week In Petroleum” released by the US Energy Information Administration, the U.S. average retail price for regular gasoline decreased over four cents to $2.70 per gallon. That is 8 cents per gallon higher than this time last year. Every region of the country had lower fuel prices except for the Rocky Mountains.
The East Coast price declined four cents to $2.64 per gallon while the Midwest recorded the largest price decrease, more than five cents, to settle at $2.63 per gallon. The Gulf Coast price lost a nickel to average $2.56 per gallon. The West Coast dropped over two cents to $3.08 per gallon, but still remained the highest in the Nation. California prices declined two and a half cents to $3.14 per gallon.
