RED DEER, AB--(Marketwired - May 05, 2015) - Parkland Fuel Corporation ("Parkland" or the "Corporation")(
"Parkland experienced another strong quarter which demonstrated our ability to acquire, grow our supply advantage, and operate efficiently. Our announced acquisitions of 16 retail sites in British Columbia and North Dakota as well as our strong margin performance in the retail and commercial segments illustrated these strengths," said Bob Espey, President and Chief Executive Officer of Parkland. "The first quarter demonstrated the benefits of diversification in terms of geography, customer, and business line. The strength in our eastern Canadian business helped offset the headwinds experienced in our western Canadian business."
First Quarter Highlights
Grow
- Announced the acquisition of five retail sites in North Dakota for US$13.7 million or 5.0x annualized EBITDA1 through Parkland's subsidiary SPF Energy, Inc., adding approximately $2.7 million of EBITDA1 and 25 million litres of fuel annually; and
- Announced the acquisition of 11 Chevron-branded service stations in British Columbia for $17.1 million, adding approximately $3 million of annualized EBITDA1.
Supply
- Demonstrated Elbow River Marketing Ltd.'s capability to take advantage of supply and demand imbalances in western Canada which increased volume sold in Parkland's wholesale, supply, and trading segment by 52 million litres; and
- Added volume to Parkland's western Canadian supply portfolio with 11 new Chevron stations.
Operate
- Increased non-fuel gross profit in Parkland's retail and SPF Energy, Inc. segments on a year-over-year basis due to increased convenience store and lubricant sales; and
- Remained committed to safety by operating with zero Lost Time Incidents in Canada since February 19, 2014 (440 days).
To the view the figure titled "Adjusted EBITDA by Segment": http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/AdjustedEBITDA.jpg
Parkland achieved $57.1 million in Adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter of 2015, compared to $61.2 million in the first quarter of 2014. The decrease in Adjusted EBITDA is primarily attributable to lower propane gross profit in Wholesale, Supply and Distribution, partially offset by stronger operating results in Retail Fuels and Commercial Fuels. Exceptional propane market conditions in the first quarter of 2014 were not repeated this year.
Financial Summary
| Three months ended March 31, | |||
| (in millions of Canadian dollars and shares) | 2015 | 2014 | |
| Sales and operating revenues | 1,391.6 | 2,017.4 | |
| Adjusted gross profit1 | 155.2 | 160.0 | |
| Net earnings | 19.8 | 22.3 | |
| Per share - basic | 0.24 | 0.30 | |
| Per share - diluted | 0.24 | 0.30 | |
| Adjusted EBITDA1 | 57.1 | 61.2 | |
| Dividends | 23.5 | 19.2 | |
| Dividends declared per share | 0.28 | 0.26 | |
| Distributable cash flow2 | 36.3 | 44.6 | |
| Per share - outstanding | 0.44 | 0.61 | |
| Dividend payout ratio2 | 65% | 43% | |
| Total assets | 1,514.2 | 1,461.7 | |
| Total long-term liabilities | 549.9 | 449.4 | |
| Total Funded Debt1 | 168.0 | 367.9 | |
| Shares outstanding | 82.9 | 73.7 | |
Operating Summary
| Three months ended March 31, | |||
| 2015 | 2014 | ||
| Fuel volume (millions of litres) | 2,238 | 2,272 | |
| Fuel and petroleum product adjusted gross profit1 (cpl): | |||
| Retail Fuels | 4.87 | 4.34 | |
| Commercial Fuels | 13.56 | 11.32 | |
| SPF Energy | 3.41 | 3.25 | |
| Operating costs (cpl) | 2.97 | 2.87 | |
| Marketing, general and administrative (cpl) | 1.55 | 1.60 | |
| 1 | Non-GAAP financial measure. See the Non-GAAP Financial Measures, Reconciliations and Advisories section of the MD&A for the period ended March 31, 2015 for the reconciliation. |
| 2 | Non-GAAP financial measure. See the Distributable Cash Flow section of the MD&A for the period ended March 31, 2015 for the reconciliation and calculation. |
MD&A and Financial Statements
Management's Discussion and Analysis, the audited Consolidated Financial Statements, and the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for the three months ended March 31, 2015, are available online at www.parkland.ca.
Conference Call Information
Parkland Fuel Corporation will host a webcast and conference call at 7:00 a.m. MT (9:00 a.m. ET) on Wednesday, May 6, 2015 to discuss the results for the three months ended March 31, 2015.
To access the conference call by telephone dial toll free 1-800-952-4972. Callers from the Toronto area should use 416-340-8530. Please connect approximately 10 minutes prior to the beginning of the call.
Please log into the webcast presentation 10 minutes before the start time at: http://www.gowebcasting.com/6497. The webcast will be available for replay two hours after the conference call ends. It will remain available at the link above for one year.
Financial Statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis will also be posted to www.parkland.ca and SEDAR immediately after the results are released by newswire.
Forward Looking Information
Certain information included herein is forward-looking. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding Parkland's expectation of its future financial position, business and growth strategies, including the manner in which such strategies will be implemented, budgets, projected costs, sources of growth, capital expenditures, financial results, taxes, future acquisitions and the efficiencies to be derived therefrom, effectiveness of internal controls, sources of funding for growth capital expenditures, anticipated dividends and the amount thereof, if any, to be declared by Parkland Fuel Corporation, and plans and objectives of or involving Parkland. Many of these statements can be identified by looking for words such as "believe", "expects", "expected", "will", "intends", "projects", "projected", "anticipates", "estimates", "continues", or similar words and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the accretive effects of acquisitions and the anticipated benefits of acquisitions. Parkland believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements should not be unduly relied upon. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of risks and uncertainties some of which are described in Parkland's annual information form and other continuous disclosure documents. Such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause Parkland's actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: failure to obtain necessary regulatory or other third party consents and approvals; the failure to achieve the anticipated benefits of acquisitions; failure to meet financial, operational and strategic objectives and plans; general economic; market and business conditions; industry capacity; competitive action by other companies; refining and marketing margins; the ability of suppliers to meet commitments; actions by governmental authorities including increases in taxes; changes in environmental and other regulations; and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of Parkland. Any forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and Parkland does not undertake any obligation, except as required under applicable law, to publicly update or revise such statements to reflect new information, subsequent or otherwise.
About Parkland Fuel Corporation
Parkland Fuel Corporation is one of North America's fastest growing distributors and marketers of fuels and lubricants. We deliver gasoline, diesel, propane, lubricants, heating oil and other high quality petroleum products to motorists, businesses, households and wholesale customers in Canada and the United States. Our mission is to be the partner of choice for our customers and suppliers, and we do this by building lasting relationships through outstanding service, reliability, safety, and professionalism.
We are unique in our ability to provide customers with dependable access to fuel and petroleum products, utilizing a portfolio of supply relationships, storage infrastructure and third-party rail and highway carriers to rapidly respond to supply disruptions in order to protect our customers.
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Contact Information:
For investor inquiries please contact:
Scott Stickland
Investor Relations
403-567-2590