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Market: NASDAQ
Sector: Retailers
EPIC: SUSS
Latest Price: 28.82  (-0.07% Descending)
52-week High: 30.50
52-week Low: 14.34
Market Cap: 603.86M
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Susser Holdings
www.susser.com
Susser Holdings Corporation (Susser) is a non-refining operator, as well as a motor fuel distributor by gallons in Texas. Its operations include retail convenience stores and wholesale motor fuel distribution.
Full Susser Holdings profile here
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Susser Holdings Q4 profit beat Street views

22nd Feb 2012, 1:31 pm by Brad Lemaire
Susser Holdings Q4 profit beat Street views

Convenience store operator Susser Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:SUSS) posted better-than-expected fourth quarter sales and earnings that smashed analysts’ expectations.

The company, headquartered in Corpus Christi, Texas, operates Town and Country Food stores as well as strip stores in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

Total revenues jumped 28.5 percent to $1.29 billion up from $1.07 billion, driven by sales from its retail and wholesale fuel, and
higher average selling prices per gallon for petrol.

For the quarter ended January 1, the company swung to a profit of $5.3 million, or 29 cents a share, compared to year-ago net loss of $1.3 million, or seven cents a share.

Analysts polled by Bloomberg were predicting earnings of 15 cents a share and revenues of $1.3 billion.

Susser's chief executive Sam L. Susser said: "We did experience some increases in food costs during the quarter, but they were manageable.  These costs, combined with pressure on cigarette margins, had a slightly negative impact on our merchandise net margin in the fourth quarter."

Total sales from merchandise rose 9.5 percent to $219 million, led by gains in food service, packaged drinks, beer and snacks.

For the quarter, retail fuel volumes rose 9.7 percent to 200 million gallons. The average retail gallons sold per store rose 7.2 percent to 28,900 gallons, while fourth quarter fuel margin averaged 18.6 cents per gallon.

Wholesale fuel volumes sold to 565 independent, contracted dealers and third-party customers rose 16.7 percent to 143.8 million gallons.

Comparable-store merchandise sales grew five percent. This is considered to be a key figure to measure a retailer’s financial health because it excludes stores recently opened and closed during the year.

Susser opened six large-format Stripes convenience stores bringing its total to 541 retail stores at year end. So far in 2012, one retail store has opened and six others are currently under construction.

In the wholesale fuel business, the company said it added 127 new wholesale dealer sites during the fourth quarter, which includes the 121 acquired in October, and two were discontinued for a total of 565 contracted branded dealer sites at year-end.

Last year, in December, the company issued 3.77 million new shares of common stock for $21.75 per share, and raised $77.5 million. Susser plans to use the raised profits toward new store development and general corporate purposes, which may include debt reduction based on market conditions.

The company’s share price rose 2.38 percent at $26.66 apiece in trade on the Nasdaq on Wednesday afternoon.

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