Caseys General Stores, Inc.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to KC's General Store's third quarter fiscal year 2024 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you'll need to press star 1-1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Brian Johnson, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Business Development. Please go ahead, sir.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us to discuss the results from our third quarter ended January 31, 2024. I'm Brian Johnson, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Business Development. With me today are Dan Rabelas, Board Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Steve Bramlage, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I'll remind you that certain statements made by us during this investor call may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include any statements relating to expectations for future periods, possible or assumed future results of operations, financial conditions, liquidity and related sources or needs, the company's supply chain, business and integration strategies, plans and synergies, growth opportunities, and performance at our stores. are a number of known and unknown risks uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results to defer materially from any future results expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements including but not limited to the integration of the recent acquisitions our ability to execute on our strategic plan or to realize benefits from the strategic strategic plan the impact and duration of the conflict in ukraine and related governmental actions as well as other risks, uncertainties, and factors which are described in our most annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q as filed with the SEC and available on our website. Any forward-looking statements made during this call reflect our current views as of today with respect to future events, in case this disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. A reconciliation of non-gap-to-gap financial measures referenced in this call, as well as detailed breakdown of the operating expense increase for the third quarter, can be found on our website at www.casey.com under the Investor Relations link. With that said, I would now like to turn the call over to Darren to discuss our third quarter results. Darren?

Thanks, Brian, and good morning, everyone. We're thrilled to discuss third quarter as it once again demonstrated the strength of the Casey's team and the resilience of our business model. Now let's review the results. Eluded EPS finished at $2.33 per share, 13% decrease from the prior year. The company generated $87 million in net income, a decrease of 13%, and $218 million in EBITDA, a decrease of 2% from the prior year. As we mentioned in last quarter's call and the press release, all of these metrics were comparing against the prior year and included a one-time operating expense reduction due to the resolution of a legal matter. This resolution benefited the prior year by approximately $15 million, or 31 cents per share. I'm proud of our team members for producing solid third quarter results, as the team navigated a less favorable fuel cost environment than in the past year, as well as challenging weather in most of our footprint in January. I'd now like to go over our results and share some of the details in each of the categories. Inside, same-store sales were up 4.1% for the third quarter, or 9.9% on a two-year stack basis, with an average margin of 41.3%. Same-store prepared food and dispensed beverage was particularly strong, as sales were up 7.5%, or 12.9% on a two-year stack basis, with an average margin of 59.6%, up approximately 230 basis points from the prior year. Hope High has performed well in the quarter, We also saw strong performance with hot sandwiches and dispensed beverages. Margin was favorably impacted by softening commodity costs, notably cheese, as well as modest menu pricing adjustments during the quarter. Prepared food continues to be a key differentiator for Casey's, and I'm very pleased with the sales growth and margin improvements. Same-store grocery and general merchandise sales were up 2.8% or 8.8% on a two-year stack basis, with an average margin of 33.9%, a decrease of approximately 10 basis points from the prior year. We saw positive momentum in the category, notably in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, and our private label program continues to be a great value option for our guests, with Casey's Chips and bottled water performing well in the quarter. For fuel, same-store gallons sold were nearly flat, with a fuel margin of 37.3 cents per gallon. This marked the 11th consecutive quarter, with fuel margins above 34.5 cents per gallon. Our volume continues to outperform our geographic market as well, as Opus Fuel Gallon sold data shows the mid-continent region down approximately 5% in the quarter. Our fuel team is doing an exceptional job balancing volume growth and margin, and the results continue to show it. Operating expenses were up 10.3% versus the prior year, but only 2.5% on the same store, excluding credit card fee basis. Our team continues to get more and more efficient operating stores, while at the same time integrating multiple acquisitions. This is a testament to the outstanding work and maturity of our integration team. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Steve to discuss financial results from the third quarter. Steve?