As of January 31, 2021, Alimentation Couche-Tard had more than 7,100 stores in North America. Most of the stores are operated under the global Circle K brand, although a number of stores still operate under the Holiday Stationstores trade name.
(US$ million)
According to Alimentation Couche-Tard's annual report, the company's in-store merchandise revenues are comprised primarily of the sale of tobacco and alternative tobacco products, beer, wine, beverage, grocery items, candy and snacks, and fresh food offerings, including quick service restaurants. Merchandise sales also include wholesale of merchandise and goods to certain independent operators and franchisees made from the company's distribution centers and commissaries.
Tobacco products represent the company's largest product category of merchandise and service revenues. For fiscal 2020, tobacco products represented approximately 40.0% and 21.0% of total merchandise and service revenues and gross profits, respectively.
Service revenues include car wash revenues, commissions on the sale of lottery tickets, and the issuance of money orders, fees from automatic teller machines, sales of calling cards and gift cars, fees for cashing checks, sales of postage stamps, and sales of bus tickets. Service revenues also include franchise and license fees as well as commissions from agents and royalties from franchisees and licensees. The company also generates license fees revenues derived from the underlying sale of cannabis product through a licensed store in Ontario, Canada.
During fiscal 2020, road transportation fuel revenues accounted for approximately 71.0% of Alimentation Couche-tard's total revenues, but the road transportation fuel gross margin represented about only 46.0% of the their overall gross profits.
(US$ million)
The company includes in its revenues the total dollar amount of road transportation fuel sales, including any embedded taxes when they are included in the purchase price, if they take ownership of the road transportation fuel inventory. In the United States and in Europe, in some instances, the company purchases road transportation fuel and sells it to certain independent store operators at cost plus a mark-up. The company records the full value of these revenues as road transportation fuel revenues. Where Alimentation Couche-tard acts as a selling agent for a petroleum distributor, only the commission they earn is recorded as revenue.
External customer revenues 2020 (US$ million)
Merchandise and services
10,947.2
1,416.3
2,302.7
14,666.2
Other
93.6
652.0
21.3
766.9
Road transportation fuel
26,802.5
7,481.1
4,415.7
38,699.3
Consolidated results for Q4 2020
Operating income
769.6
410.2
Revenue
9,687.2
13,113.3
Merchandise and service gross margin in the US 2020
33.0%
33.9%
Timeline
McGill University and Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. announce their partnership in the launch of a retail innovation lab at the Bensadoun School of Retail Management--a live testing ground for innovative and frictionless technologies that address the retail sector's challenges of the future.
