Caseys General Stores, Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q4 Fiscal Year 2024 Casey's General Storage Earning 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 will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising that your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker, Brian Johnson, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Business Development. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us to discuss the results for our fourth quarter and fiscal year ended April 30, 2024. I am Brian Johnson, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Business Development. With me today are Dan Rebellas, 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. There are a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ 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 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 recent annual report form 10k and quarterly reports on form 10q 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 it 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 the non-gap to gap financial measures 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 fourth quarter and fiscal year results. Darren?

Thanks, Brian, and good morning, everyone. We are excited to share our outstanding results, but I'd like to first begin by thanking our 45,000 Casey's team members for their commitment and effort in achieving another record fiscal year. As we look back on the first year of the three-year strategic plan that was set out in June of 2023, I've never been more confident in our team and their ability to execute the plan to deliver on our commitments we made to our shareholders. Casey's is here to make life better for our guests and communities every day. That's our purpose, and it shows in the positive guest feedback we receive, the delicious food we make, and the impact we have on our communities. This fiscal year, Casey's, along with its generous guests, partners, and team members, were able to donate over $5.7 million to make a positive impact in our communities. In addition, thanks to the strong performance this year, the company was able to direct $6 million in additional funding to its charitable fund for donations in future years. Our community giving programs provide improvements for schools and sports fields, meals for those in need, disaster recovery support, and services helping veterans and their families. Thank you to our team members, our guests, and our nonprofit and supplier partners that make all this possible. We are proud to do so much good across what we call Casey's Country. Now let's discuss the results of this past fiscal year. Fiscal 24 was another record year for diluted earnings per share, finishing at $13.43, a 13% increase from the prior year. The company also generated a record $502 million in net income and $1.1 billion in EBITDA, an increase of 11% from the prior year. Inside, same-store sales were up 4.4%, or 11.2% on a two-year stack basis, with exceptionally strong results in the prepared food and dispensed beverage category, up 6.8%, or 14.4% on a two-year stack basis. We had good performance in grocery and general merchandise as well, with same-store sales up 3.5% or 10% on a two-year stack basis. Inside margin expanded 110 basis points year-over-year to 41%, a testament to our approach of handling commodity volatility while still maintaining a strong value proposition for our guests. We saw excellent results in pizza slices as well as both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Our food innovation team did a great job. with thin crust pizza and our refreshed sandwich menu both performing exceptionally well. Fuel gross profit was up 4%, with total fuel gallons sold up 6%, and a fuel margin averaging 39.5 cents per gallon over the course of the year. Our fuel team continues to take market share while maximizing gross profit dollars with a balance of fuel volume and margin. Our focus on operational efficiency continues to pay dividends. same-store operating expenses excluding credit card fees were up only 2.7% for the year, impacted favorably by a reduction of same-store labor hours of 1.6%. The fourth quarter marked the eighth consecutive quarter of same-store labor hour reduction. This was done while guest satisfaction scores improved and team member engagement scores hit an all-time high, showing that our store simplification efforts and operational excellence teams are driving efficiency the right way. Store growth was also a high priority for the company, as we built 42 new stores and acquired 112 more in fiscal 24. 22 of those acquired stores were in Texas, as we were able to expand our footprint into our 17th state, and we're excited to bring all of our Casey's capabilities to that market. We believe our two-pronged approach of both building and acquiring stores is a great way to creatively grow the business every year. We are well on our way to meet or exceed our three-year goal of at least 350 new stores. The strong results in fiscal 24 during a time where the broader retail industry has been challenged illustrates the uniqueness, durability, and strategic advantage of the Casey's business model. I'd now like to turn the call over to Steve to discuss the fourth quarter and our outlook for fiscal 25.