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spk04: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Cross America Partners' second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. At this time, all lines are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Friday, August 9, 2024. I would now like to turn the conference over to Maura Topper, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.
spk03: Thank you, Operator. Good morning, and thank you for joining the Cross America Partners Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. With me today is Charles Nifong, CEO and President. We'll start off the call today with Charles providing some opening comments and an overview of Cross America's operational performance for the quarter, and then I will discuss the financial results. We will then open up the call to questions. Today's call will follow presentation slides that are available as part of the webcast and are posted on the Cross America website. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that today's call, including the question and answer session, may include forward-looking statements regarding expected revenue, future plans, future operational metrics, and opportunities and expectations of the organization. There can be no assurance that management's expectations, beliefs, and projections will be achieved or that actual results will not differ from expectations. We see Cross America's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, for a discussion of important factors that could affect our actual results. Forward-looking statements represent the judgment of Cross America's management as of today's date, and the organization disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements. During today's call, we may also provide certain performance measures that do not conform to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. We have provided schedules that reconcile these non-GAAP measures with our reported results on a GAAP basis as part of our earnings press release. Today's call is being webcast and a recording of this conference call will be available on the Cross America website for a period of 60 days. With that, I will now turn the call over to Charles.
spk01: Thank you, Maura.
spk00: Maura and I appreciate everyone joining us this morning. We thank you for listening in today and for your interest in the partnership. During today's call, I will go through some of the operating highlights for the second quarter, 2024. I'll also provide commentary on the market and a few other updates as I have done on our prior calls. Maura will then review in more detail our financial results. Now, if you turn to slide four, I will briefly review some of our operating results. First, I will point out if you compare the relative size of the segment operating income between the retail and wholesale segments, You can see that our retail segment is now larger than our wholesale segment as a result of the strategic actions we have taken over the last 12 months to increase our exposure to retail. We expect this to be the case going forward as we continue to execute on our strategic vision to increase our retail footprint. For our retail segment, we realized a 7% year-over-year increase in our operating income for the second quarter compared to the prior year. driven by our success in converting sites from the wholesale segment to retail. We managed this achievement despite an industry environment that remains soft, with decreased fuel demand and weak demand in certain store categories. Considering the industry environment backdrop, our performance for the second quarter was good, primarily driven by our merchandise growth. The retail segment generated $76.6 million in gross profit, compared to $66 million for the same period in 2023. a 16% increase. Our merchandise gross profit increased 23% and our motor fuel gross profit increased 10% when compared to the same period in 2023. On the fuel margin front, our retail fuel margin on a cents per gallon basis increased 1% year-over-year as our fuel margin was 37.3 cents per gallon in the second quarter of 2024 compared to 37 cents per gallon the second quarter of 2023. Retail fuel margin for the second quarter was also up considerably, over 21%, from the first quarter 2024 retail fuel margin of $0.308 per gallon. Retail fuel margins for the second quarter were generally strongest in the middle of the quarter and declined somewhat from mid-June on as crude oil price increases pushed up wholesale fuel costs, which resulted in lower retail fuel margins. For volume on a same-store basis, our retail volume declined 2% for the quarter year over year. Based on national demand data available to us, national gasoline demand was down approximately 4% for the quarter. So on a relative basis, our same store retail volume outperformed, even though it was lower than what we would like. In the period since the quarter end, retail same store volume has remained down at approximately 1% to 2% year over year. So slightly better performance than during the second quarter, but again, still down relative to the prior year. National fuel demand has continued to be soft in the period since quarter end as well. Retail fuel margins have continued to be roughly in line with our second quarter results. For inside sales on a same site basis, our inside sales were relatively flat compared to last year for the second quarter. Inside sales excluding cigarettes were up approximately 2% year over year on a same store basis for the quarter. As with fuel demand, based on national demand data available to us, demand for inside store sales has been weak so far this year and for the second quarter, with both overall sales and unit count numbers for the second quarter down compared to the prior year. So again, on a relative basis, our retail segment inside sales outperformed the industry for the quarter. Across America, our store sales performance was primarily driven by the categories of salty snacks, tobacco other than cigarettes, and packaged beverages. On the store merchandise margin front, our merchandise gross profit increased 23% to $29.8 million, driven by our increased sales from the higher store count. The store merchandise margin declined slightly due to us implementing more consumer value product pricing in our stores, as well as higher costs in certain of our categories that we haven't passed on to customers. In the period since the quarter end, same-store sales have been down approximately 2% from the prior year, reflecting the ongoing soft demand environment. In our retail segment, if you look at our company-operated site count, we are up 80 company-operated retail sites from the prior year and up 29 sites relative to the first quarter of 2024. The increase in company-operated site count relative to the first quarter was primarily driven by our completion of the conversion of the Apple Green Lease Locations to company-operated retail sites in April during the quarter. We also converted certain other locations as well to company-operated retail sites during the quarter as part of our broader overall strategy to increase our retail operating exposure. Our commission agent site count increased by 27 sites relative to the second quarter of 2023 and increased 14 sites relative to the first quarter of 2024. In many cases, Converting an existing site to the commission class of trade involves retaining the existing dealer at the location. We are simply changing the economic relationship with the dealer so that we, across America, now own the fuel and control the retail fuel pricing at the location. We have been successful at doing these conversions in a manner that is mutually beneficial economically for both us and the dealer, creating a win-win situation That enables all of us to be better off and have a productive relationship with the dealer, now commission agent, going forward. In total, we increased our overall retail site count by 43 sites during the second quarter compared to our retail site count at the end of the first quarter of this year. Based on those numbers, you can see that we were extremely active during the quarter with site conversions and executing on our strategy to increase our exposure to retail fuel margins and the retail business overall. Moving on to the wholesale segment, for the second quarter of 2024, our wholesale segment gross profit declined 11% to $28.1 million compared to $31.7 million in the second quarter of 2023. The decrease was driven by a decline in fuel volume, partially offset by an increase in fuel margin per gallon. The primary factor in the overall volume decline was the conversion of certain Leslie dealer sites the company operated in commission agent sites. which are now accounted for in the retail segment. Our wholesale motor fuel gross profit decreased 7% to $16.6 million in the second quarter of 2024 from $17.9 million in the second quarter of 2023. Our fuel margin increased 6% from 8.2 cents per gallon in the second quarter of 2023 to 8.7 cents per gallon in the second quarter of 2024. The increase in our wholesale fuel margin per gallon was primarily driven by the relative level of crude oil prices within the two periods and its corresponding impact on the terms discounts we receive on certain gallons. We also benefited this quarter from a reduction in our fuel sourcing costs based on better purchase terms and favorable market conditions for certain other gallons. Our wholesale volume was 192.1 million gallons for the second quarter of 2024, compared to 218.1 million gallons in the second quarter of 2023, reflecting a decline of 12%. The decline in volume when compared to the same period in 2023 was primarily due to the conversion of certain lessee dealer sites to our retail class of trade and lower same-site volume. For the quarter, our same-store volume in the wholesale segment was down approximately 3% year-over-year, so the additional 9% drop in volume The difference between the overall volume decline of 12% and our same-store volume decline of 3% was largely due to the conversion of sites to the retail segment. The gallons from these converted sites are now reflected in our retail segment results. As mentioned in my retail segment comments, national demand data available to us indicated fuel demand was down around 4% for the quarter. So, our same-store wholesale volume performance for the second quarter was better than overall national demand. In the period since the quarter end, same-store volume has been down around 1% year-over-year, so still negative year-over-year, but an improving trend, similar to our retail segment results. Regarding our wholesale rent, our base rent for the quarter was $11.2 million, compared to the prior year of $13.1 million, a decrease due to the conversion of certain lessee dealer sites to company operating sites. These rent dollars, while no longer in the form of rent, are now in our retail segment results through our fuel and inside store sales margin at these locations, which, due to their increase, helps to drive our increase in retail operating income for the quarter. As a result, the rent decline does not represent lost economics to our business, but simply reflects that these economics are now in the retail segment. During the quarter, we divested 10 properties for $11.9 million in proceeds, resulting in a net gain of $6.5 million. As we stated on prior calls, we have been busy building up a pipeline of divestiture properties and the results this quarter provide an initial indication of the work we have done in this area. We have a very active pipeline of opportunities and expect to build on the divestiture volume realized in the second quarter in the second half of the year. Overall, it was a solid quarter for us. The second quarter was a material improvement from the first quarter. We were active in converting sites to retail adding 43 sites to the retail segment during the quarter. The benefit to the ongoing execution of this strategy is apparent in our current financial results, and we expect this benefit to grow over time as we get the converted sites operating at the level we expect of them. While the demand environment continues to be constrained, our relative volume and sales performance indicates consumers are finding value in our offering, and we remain a preferred destination for them.
spk01: With that, I will turn it over to Mara for more detailed financial reviews.
spk03: Thank you, Charles. If you would please turn to slide six, I would like to review our second quarter results for the partnership. We reported net income of $12.4 million for the second quarter of 2024 compared to net income of $14.5 million in the second quarter of 2023. Adjusted EBITDA was $42.6 million for the second quarter of 2024, a slight increase of 1% from adjusted EBITDA of $42.2 million for the second quarter of 2023, though as Charles has reviewed with changes in the composition of that adjusted EBITDA as a result of our strategic initiatives. Our distributable cash flow for the second quarter of 2024 was $26.1 million compared to $30.4 million for the second quarter of 2023. The declines in net income and distributable cash flow year over year were primarily due to an increase in interest expense, as well as slightly higher sustaining capital spending as we have worked on our class of trade changes. Our distribution coverage for the current quarter was 1.3 times compared to 1.53 times for the second quarter of 2023. Our distribution coverage for the trailing 12 months ended June 30th, 2024 was 1.32 times compared to 1.68 times for the same period ended June 30th, 2023. During the second quarter of 2024, the partnership paid a distribution of 52.5 cents per unit. Charles discussed some of the primary drivers of our top line and gross profit performance for the quarter in his comments. Turning to the expense portion of our operations, Operating expenses for the second quarter increased $6 million compared to the 2023 second quarter. This was comprised of a $2.7 million decrease in operating expenses in our wholesale segment, offset by an $8.8 million increase in operating expenses in our retail segment. Both changes were primarily driven by our conversion of sites from our wholesale segment to our retail segment. The retail segment increase in operating expenses was 22% compared to our 21% overall increase in average site count in the segment during the quarter compared to the prior year. Within that 21% increase in total average site count, our company operated average site count was up 28% year over year for the quarter. Company operated locations are our highest per site expense class of trade And so that site count increase drove the majority of the year-over-year increase in operating expenses in both the retail segment and overall. We are generally pleased with the operating leverage we have been able to achieve to date as we have added company-operated locations, with further room for results in this realm. On a same-store basis, operating expenses for our company-operated locations were approximately flat year-over-year, Our team has continued to drive a strong focus on managing our store labor costs, with total store employment costs down approximately 1% year over year, as a result of a strong focus on staffing our locations with efficient hours and more moderated wage increases than experienced over the prior two to three years. This strong performance in controlling our store employment costs, our largest expense across the organization, coupled with continued improvement performance in shrink and inventory management, allowed us to offset cost increases in repairs and maintenance, including environmental maintenance, and certain store-level IT investments. Our operations team is focused on providing our store employees with the right processes and technology to accomplish their activities effectively and efficiently, and providing more time in their days to service customers. Our G&A expenses increased $0.4 million for the quarter year-over-year, primarily due to higher management fees as we have selectively added headcount to support the organization's growth in the retail segment. Moving to the next slide, we spent a total of $5.3 million on capital expenditures during the second quarter, with $3.4 million of that total being growth-related capital expenditures. During this past quarter, growth-related capital spending included investments in the backcourt of our company-operated site portfolio to add additional food and product options at selected sites, as well as certain targeted site image and dispenser investments, which are often accompanied with incentives from our fuel suppliers. As of June 30, 2024, our total credit facility balance was $789.5 million, which was a $9 million decrease from our March 31st, 2024 balance. Our strong operational performance in the second quarter, coupled with our success in divesting non-core assets that Charles reviewed, allowed us to reinvest in our business, complete our quarterly distribution, and deleverage during the course of the quarter. Our credit facility defined leverage ratio was 4.39 times as of June 30th, 2024, to the decrease from 4.49 times as of March 31st, 2024. We continue to remain focused on our cash flow generation from operations and the divestiture of non-core assets to manage our leverage ratio at approximately four times on a credit facility defined basis. Our cash interest expense increased from $10.2 million in the second quarter of 2023 to $13.7 million in the second quarter of 2024. We had positive rate savings from the interest rate swaps we entered into during the second and fourth quarters of last year, but did have three highly valuable interest rate swaps from the first quarter of 2020 expire at the end of the first quarter of 2024, which increased our overall interest costs. At this time, approximately 50% of our current credit facility balance is swapped to a fixed rate of approximately 3.4% blended, which is a very advantaged rate in the current rate environment. Our credit facility balance during the second quarter of 2024 was also higher than the prior year, primarily due to the Apple Green transaction that Charles reviewed earlier and which we completed during the second quarter. our elevated credit facility balance also contributed to the increase in our interest expense year over year. Our effective interest rate on the total CAFEL credit facility at the end of the second quarter was 6.7%. In conclusion, as Charles noted, the partnership performed well during the second quarter of 2024, in spite of the softer demand environment experienced in fuel and store sales. We remain focused as a team on executing in our base business, as well as for the sites that have transitioned between segments over the past year to optimize their performance moving forward. We continue to focus on generating durable and consistent cash flows with a focus on maintaining a strong and flexible balance sheet and driving value for our unit holders. With that, we will open it up for questions.
spk04: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press star followed by the one on your touchstone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by the number two. If you're using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any key. Again, should you have a question, please press star followed by the number one on your touchstone phone. Ladies and gentlemen, just a reminder, should you have a question, please press star followed by the one on your touchstone phone.
spk01: It doesn't look like we have any questions today.
spk00: Thank you for joining us on round two of our call. We apologize for the technical difficulties yesterday. There was a complete systems failure on our conference call provider, which is why we were unable to have the call and also communicate that to you when you were logged on yesterday. So thank you for joining us again today. Have a great day. Have a great weekend.
spk04: Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask to please disconnect your line. Have a lovely day.
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