Alimentation Couche-Tard, owner of the Circle K supermarket chain, reported surprisingly weak sales and profits for its latest quarter, suggesting that consumer spending in the United States is particularly weak.
The Canadian owner of a chain of convenience stores and gas stations saw sales decline 2.2% in the quarter ended Feb. 4 even as adjusted profit fell to 65 cents per share. . That was far below the 84 cents that analysts had expected, according to the data compiled. bloomberg.
The company’s profit was $623.4 million, down about 15.5% from the previous period, when Couche-Tard earned $737.4 million.
The company blamed lower customer numbers and “near-term headwinds, particularly in the U.S.,” CEO Brian Hannash said. statement Published on Wednesday.
Couche-Tard, which derives most of its revenue from fuel sales, also said that “some of our customers continue to be affected by difficult economic conditions.”
As a result, the company, which operates about 7,000 Circle K convenience stores in the U.S. alone, Holiday Station stores primarily in the Northwest, and the Canadian chain Mac’s convenience stores, earns food and other merchandise revenue for each store. I was able to do that. and cigarettes are included in all three of the company’s geographic segments.
Stifel Financial analyst Martin Landry said in a note earlier reported by Bloomberg that this is the first time Couche-Tard has fallen this much in more than a decade.
But 7-Eleven’s decline was even more severe, Landry added, “which is reassuring and a sign of overall industry weakness.”
According to Bloomberg, Couche-Tard had revenue of $19.6 billion in its most recent quarter and operates a total of about 16,700 sites, primarily in the United States and Europe.
During the same period, the company completed the acquisition of 2,175 European locations from French oil giant Total Energy for $3.8 billion. More than half of them are in Germany, Bloomberg reports.
Representatives for Couche-Tard did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Even as consumers around the world feel the squeeze, Americans still face stubbornly high inflation and the highest interest rates in decades, with the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates on hold on Wednesday. .
As expected, the Fed’s policy rate, the overnight rate, remained unchanged at 5.25% to 5.50%, where it has remained since July.
Still, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell confirmed central bankers’ view that there will be three rate cuts this year.
Speaking after two days of policy meetings, Powell said the timing of the better-than-expected rate cut could mean inflation continues to fall toward the Fed’s 2% target as the economy continues to outperform expectations. It remains to be seen whether the confidence of the authorities is further strengthened, he said.
Chairman Powell said any decision on when to cut rates would depend on more data to determine whether disappointing indicators from the start of the year continue.
The Fed’s next meeting is scheduled to be held from April 30th to May 1st.
Meanwhile, the latest inflation statistics show that the inflation rate rose by 3.2% in February.
On a monthly basis, price increases last month were mainly driven by housing and gasoline indexes, which rose slightly by 0.4% and contributed more than 60% of the increase.
according to AAA datathe national average for a gallon of regular gas ring was $3.53, up from the previous month’s average of $3.27.
Last month’s Consumer Price Index, which tracks changes in the cost of everyday goods and services, showed a further rise in consumer prices, the first year-over-year increase in consumer prices since January 2021, when President Joe Biden’s term began. It has not decreased.
The closest the economy came to negative annual growth since President Biden took office was in July 2022, when inflation was “steady” at a very high 8.5%.
Overall, prices have increased by a staggering 19% since December 2020, the month before Mr. This is despite the fact that he has insisted that [government’s] deficit. “
