CST Brands has high hopes for third quarter 2015, after a fair second quarter.
After making some major acquisitions and capital investments this past year, San Antonio-based CST Brands Inc., which operates the Corner Stores chain of convenience stores, reported a decline in revenue in the second quarter compared to the same period last year.
During the company’s second-quarter which ended June 30, the company earned operating revenues of $3.15 billion, down about 3.3% from $3.26 billion last year, according to an earnings report released Friday. CST’s net income attributable to stockholders was also down, to $25 million from $32 million last year.
Not all is down, however. Improvements in areas such as fuel volume and merchandise sales has led CST Brands to finish out the second quarter strong and with high hopes for third quarter 2015.
Quarterly figures reflected an increase in merchandise gross profit, with revenues totaling $2.5 billion. The company’s U.S. merchandise revenues increased $31 million in 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. This increase in merchandise profits is attributed in part to the company’s earlier acquisition of 77 Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes in upstate New York and Timewise-branded stores, located in Austin.
The success in merchandise sales was offset by a number of factors when it comes to the company’s overall net income. Some of the factors that are contributing to the lower income in comparison to last year include fuel sales prices that are 28% lower than in 2014, as well as the weakness of the Canadian dollar in relation to the U.S. dollar.
Additionally, the company has faced greater operating costs in 2015 compared to the same period of 2014, due to the acquisition of Nice N Easy and Timewise, along with the addition of 35 new-to-industry (NTI) store locations.
