The rise in the price of gasoline almost everywhere in the world last fall, thanks to the economic recovery, boosted the profits of Alimentation Couche-Tard.
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The Laval convenience store giant revealed on Tuesday that it had made net income of $746.4 million during its third quarter ended January 30, up 22.9% from the $607.5 million earned on the same date. last year.
While the results for the quarter were affected by the Omicron wave of COVID-19, which led many countries to reimpose more or less tough health measures, the rise in oil prices lessened its effects.
“The beginning of the quarter saw good results for both fuel volumes and ridership, but these were impacted by the work-from-home trend as well as the increase in COVID-19 cases towards the end of the quarter in our major urban centers in North America and Europe,” summarized the president and chief executive officer of Alimentation Couche-Tard, Brian Hannasch, in a press release.
A sign that the post-pandemic economic recovery is well underway, Couche-Tard’s sales reached $18.6 billion in the third quarter, up $5.4 billion (+41.2%).
This economic recovery encourages Mr. Hannasch, who says he is “optimistic that traffic and volumes will continue to recover towards normal levels as the impacts of Omicron dissipate”.
Given that the quarter ended on January 30, it is still too early to observe the effects of the war in Ukraine on Couche-Tard’s results.
Recall that the Quebec flagship had announced, on March 7, the suspension of its activities in Russia. The war also propelled the price of a barrel of oil to new heights, exerting strong pressure on the cost of gasoline at the pump.