Susser Holdings Reports Record Second Quarter 2011 Results

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, Aug. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Susser Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SUSS) today reported record financial and operating results for the second quarter ended July 3, 2011. Same-store merchandise sales increased by 5.8 percent, compared with an increase of 3.1 percent in the second quarter of 2010.  Retail net merchandise margin was 34.0 percent, up from 33.9 percent in the same quarter last year.  Average retail gallons per store per week increased 3.6 percent year-over-year. Retail fuel margins increased to 31.2 cents per gallon, versus 24.8 cents a year ago.

Adjusted EBITDA(1) rose 36.1 percent from the second quarter of last year to $60.9 million.  Gross profit was $158.9 million, which was up 18.7 percent from the second quarter of 2010.

Revenues totaled $1.4 billion – a 35.1 percent increase from a year ago – which is the result of a 42.3 percent increase in combined fuel revenues and an 8.7 percent increase in overall merchandise sales.

Net earnings were $23.7 million, or $1.36 per diluted share in the latest quarter, versus a net loss of $1.9 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, in the same quarter last year.  The Company completed a debt refinancing in May 2010 for which $15.7 million of non-recurring interest charges, net of tax, were incurred.  Excluding these non-recurring charges, the Company would have reported net earnings of $13.8 million, or $0.81 per share, for the second quarter of 2010.

“We achieved record results in the second quarter in total revenues, EBITDA and net earnings, as well as in merchandise revenues and gross profit and in retail fuel gallons sold and fuel gross profit,” said Sam L. Susser, President and Chief Executive Officer.  “These strong results were driven in large part by contributions from our new stores, as well as continued strong same-store performance from our merchandise and food service offerings and higher margins in our fuel business.

“Traffic in our stores remains brisk and continues to benefit from population growth and an improving economy in most markets as well as from the completion of our store refurbishing and rebranding from Town & Country to Stripes® and Laredo Taco Company®.  In addition, our 14 new retail stores opened in 2010 and the eight stores opened in the first half of 2011 are helping drive strong organic growth.  

“Through careful cost management and a marketing mix that emphasizes higher-profit-margin beverages, food service and other items, we are successfully driving merchandise sales growth and profit margins quarter after quarter.

“As a result of our continued strong performance, we are again raising our guidance for 2011 for many of our performance metrics, including same-store sales and fuel margins,” he said.

“In addition, our financial liquidity has never been better, and with the increased investment in our land bank, we are well positioned to ramp up our new store construction program for 2012 and into 2013.”

New Convenience Store/Wholesale Dealer Site Update

Susser opened six large-format Stripes® convenience stores and closed one smaller store during the second quarter, for a total number of retail stores in operation at July 3rd of 532.  Three additional stores have been opened so far in the third quarter, for a total of 11 year-to-date, and one store was recently closed, bringing the current retail store count to 534.  Six more are currently under construction.

In its wholesale fuel business, Susser added eight new dealer sites and discontinued supplying one site, for a total of 439 dealer locations at the end of the second quarter.  

Financing Update

The Company generated total proceeds of $6.2 million from convenience store sale-leaseback transactions during the second quarter, in addition to a $20 million long-term mortgage facility completed in early May with a regional bank.

Susser ended the second quarter of 2011 with trailing 12 months Adjusted EBITDA(1) of $145.4 million and net debt (total debt of $451.2 million less cash of $66.4 million) of $384.8 million, which resulted in a ratio of net debt to Adjusted EBITDA(1) of 2.6 times.  

Year-to-date, the Company has invested $62.1 million in net capital expenditures.  In addition, the Company spent $1.4 million during the second quarter to repurchase 93,786 shares of Susser common stock at an average price per share of $15.32 as part of a $15 million buyback program announced in early June.

Second Quarter Financial and Operating Highlights

Merchandise – Total merchandise sales increased by 8.7 percent from a year ago to $226.4 million in the latest quarter, with new stores added during 2010 and 2011 contributing an incremental $10.9 million in merchandise sales.  Same-store merchandise sales increased 5.8 percent, compared with a 3.1 percent increase in same-store sales in the second quarter of 2010.

Net merchandise margin was 34.0 percent, versus 33.9 percent a year ago.  The margin increase was led by contribution from packaged drinks, food service, beer and cigarettes. Merchandise gross profit increased by 9.1% versus a year ago to $77.1 million.

Retail Fuel - Retail fuel volumes increased 5.0 percent from a year ago to 194.5 million gallons for the second quarter. Average gallons sold per store per week were 3.6 percent higher than the second quarter of last year, at 28,600 gallons.  Revenues from retail fuel sales totaled $725.0 million – an increase of 41.7 percent year-over-year – which is due to a 97-cent-per-gallon increase in average pump prices, plus the impact of higher gallons sold.  Retail fuel gross margin averaged 31.2 cents per gallon in the second quarter compared to 24.8 cents a gallon a year ago.  After deducting credit card expense, net fuel margin was 25.3 cents per gallon for the second quarter compared to 20.2 cents per gallon a year ago.  Retail fuel gross profit was up 32.4 percent year-over-year to $60.7 million.

Wholesale Fuel - Wholesale fuel volumes sold to Susser’s approximately 440 dealers and other third-party customers declined 0.6 percent from a year ago to 128.1 million gallons. Wholesale fuel revenues were up 43.3 percent from a year ago to $412.1 million, which reflects a 99-cent-per-gallon increase in average selling prices.  Wholesale gross margin was 7.0 cents per gallon, versus 5.8 cents per gallon in the second quarter of last year.  Wholesale fuel gross profit increased by 20.3 percent to $9.0 million.

First Half 2011 Financial and Operating Highlights

For the six months ended July 3, 2011, Susser reported same-store merchandise sales growth of 5.7 percent. Merchandise sales totaled $429.5 million, up 7.5 percent versus the comparable period last year. Merchandise margin was 34.0 percent, versus 33.3 percent for the first half of 2010.  Retail fuel margins were 23.3 cents per gallon for the first half of 2011, compared to 18.0 cents a year ago. After deducting credit card expense, net fuel margin was 17.9 cents per gallon for the first half of 2011 compared to 13.7 cents a year ago.  Wholesale fuel margin was 6.1 cents per gallon for the first half of 2011 compared to 5.0 cents per gallon the prior year.  Adjusted EBITDA(1) totaled $84.0 million, up 43.3 percent. Gross profit was $274.6 million, an increase of 18.6 percent, reflecting improved margins in both fuel and merchandise. Total revenues were $2.5 billion, up 30.1 percent versus the first half of 2010.

Net income for the first half of 2011 was $23.6 million, or $1.36 per diluted share, versus a net loss of $6.9 million, or $0.41 per diluted share, in the first half of last year.  Excluding the charge for early retirement of debt in May 2010, the Company would have reported net income of $8.9 million, or $0.52 per share for the first half of 2010.

2011 Guidance Update

The Company has updated a portion of its guidance for FY 2011 as follows:

Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call

Susser’s management team will hold a conference call today at 11:00 a.m. ET (10:00 a.m. CT) to discuss second quarter results. To participate in the call, dial 480-629-9771 at least 10 minutes early and ask for the Susser conference call. The call will also be accessible via Susser’s web site at www.susser.com. To listen live, please visit the Investor Relations page.  A telephone replay will be available through August 17 by calling 303-590-3030 and using the pass code 4458761#.  An archive will be available for 60 days on Susser’s web site.

Corpus Christi, Texas-based Susser Holdings Corporation is a third-generation family led business that operates more than 530 Stripes® convenience stores in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. Restaurant service is available in over 320 of its stores, primarily under the proprietary Laredo Taco Company® brand. The Company also supplies branded motor fuel to more than 435 independent dealers through its wholesale fuel division.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains “forward-looking statements” describing Susser’s objectives, targets, plans, strategies, costs, anticipated capital expenditures, expansion of our food service offerings, potential acquisitions and new store openings and dealer locations. These statements are based on current plans and expectations and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to vary materially, including but not limited to: competitive pressures from convenience stores, gasoline stations, other non-traditional retailers located in our markets and other wholesale fuel distributors; volatility in crude oil and wholesale petroleum costs; wholesale cost increases of tobacco products or future legislation or campaigns to discourage smoking; intense competition and fragmentation in the wholesale motor fuel distribution industry; the operation of our stores in close proximity to stores of our dealers; seasonal trends in the industries in which we operate; unfavorable weather conditions; cross-border risks associated with the concentration of our stores in markets bordering Mexico; inability to identify, acquire and integrate new stores; our ability to comply with federal and state regulations including those related to environmental matters and the sale of alcohol and cigarettes and employment laws and health benefits; dangers inherent in storing and transporting motor fuel; pending or future consumer or other litigation; litigation or adverse publicity concerning food quality, food safety or other health concerns related to our restaurant facilities; dependence on two principal suppliers for merchandise and two principal suppliers for motor fuel; dependence on suppliers for credit terms; dependence on senior management and the ability to attract qualified employees; acts of war and terrorism; risks relating to our substantial indebtedness; dependence on our information technology systems; changes in accounting standards, policies or estimates; impairment of goodwill or indefinite lived assets; and other unforeseen factors.

For a full discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, refer to the “Risk Factors” section of the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 2, 2011, and subsequent quarterly reports. These forward-looking statements are based on and include our estimates as of the date hereof. Subsequent events and market developments could cause our estimates to change. While we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so, even if new information becomes available, except as may be required by applicable law.

Financial statements follow

Key Operating Metrics

The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, information concerning key measures we rely on to gauge our operating performance:

Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Measures to GAAP Measures

We define EBITDA as net income (loss) attributable to Susser Holdings Corporation before net interest expense, income taxes and depreciation, amortization and accretion.  Adjusted EBITDA further adjusts EBITDA by excluding non-cash stock based compensation expense and certain other operating expenses that are reflected in our net income that we do not believe are indicative of our ongoing core operations, such as significant non-recurring transaction expenses and the gain or loss on disposal of assets and impairment charges.  Adjusted EBITDAR adds back rent to Adjusted EBITDA.  In addition, those expenses that we have excluded from our presentation of Adjusted EBITDA are also excluded in measuring our covenants under our revolving credit facility and the indenture governing our debt agreements and indentures.

We believe that Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDAR are useful to investors in evaluating our operating performance because:

• they are used as a performance and liquidity measure under our existing revolving credit facility and the indenture governing our notes, including for purposes of determining whether we have satisfied certain financial performance maintenance covenants and our ability to borrow additional indebtedness and pay dividends;
• securities analysts and other interested parties use such calculations as a measure of financial performance and debt service capabilities;
• they facilitate management’s ability to measure the operating performance of our business on a consistent basis by excluding the impact of items not directly resulting from our retail convenience stores and wholesale motor fuel distribution operations;
• they are used by our management for internal planning purposes, including aspects of our consolidated operating budget, capital expenditures as well as for segment and individual site operating targets; and
• they are used by our Board and management for determining certain management compensation targets and thresholds.

EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDAR are not recognized terms under GAAP and do not purport to be alternatives to net income as measures of operating performance or to cash flows from operating activities as a measure of liquidity.  EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDAR have limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider them in isolation or as substitutes for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP.  Some of these limitations include:

• they do not reflect our cash expenditures, or future requirements, for capital expenditures or contractual commitments;
• they do not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, working capital;
• they do not reflect significant interest expense, or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payments on our existing revolving credit facility or existing notes;
• they do not reflect payments made or future requirements for income taxes;
• although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized  will often have to be replaced in the future, and EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDAR do not reflect cash requirements for such replacements; and
• because not all companies use identical calculations, our presentation of EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDAR  may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.

The following table presents a reconciliation of net income (loss) attributable to Susser Holdings Corporation to EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDAR:

The following table presents a reconciliation of net cash provided by operating activities to EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDAR:

SUSS-IR

SOURCE Susser Holdings Corporation