TSE:PKI Parkland Q4 2023 Earnings Report C$32.65 +0.44 (+1.37%) As of 04/17/2025 04:00 PM Eastern Earnings HistoryForecast Parkland EPS ResultsActual EPSC$0.84Consensus EPS C$0.64Beat/MissBeat by +C$0.20One Year Ago EPSN/AParkland Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$7.75 billionExpected Revenue$8.41 billionBeat/MissMissed by -$661.45 millionYoY Revenue GrowthN/AParkland Announcement DetailsQuarterQ4 2023Date2/27/2024TimeN/AConference Call DateWednesday, February 28, 2024Conference Call Time8:30AM ETConference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptSlide DeckPress ReleaseEarnings HistoryCompany ProfileSlide DeckFull Screen Slide DeckPowered by Parkland Q4 2023 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrFebruary 28, 2024 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 10 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Good morning. My name is Lara, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Parkland Q4 Analyst Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. Operator00:00:28Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference over to Valerie Roberts, Director, Investor Relations for Parkland. Please go ahead. Speaker 100:00:38Thank you, operator. With me today on the call are Bob Espie, President and CEO and Marcel Toonissen, Chief Financial Officer. This call is webcast, and I encourage listeners to follow along with the supporting slides. We will go through our prepared remarks and then open it up for questions with the investment community. Please limit yourself to one question and a follow-up is necessary. Speaker 100:00:56And if you have other questions, re enter the queue. We would ask analysts to follow-up directly with the Investor Relations team afterwards for any detailed modeling questions. During our call today, we may make forward looking statements related to expected future performance. These statements are based on current views and assumptions and are subject to uncertainties, which are difficult to predict. These uncertainties include, but are not limited to, expected operating results and industry conditions, among other factors. Speaker 100:01:20Risk factors applicable to our business are set out in our annual information form and management's discussion and analysis. We will also be discussing non GAAP and other financial measures, which do not have any standardized meanings prescribed by IFRS. These measures are identified and defined in Parkland's continuous disclosure documents, which are available on our website or on SEDAR. Please refer to these documents as they identify factors which may cause actual results to differ materially from any forward looking statements. Dollar amounts discussed in today's call are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted. Speaker 100:01:50I will now turn the call over to Bob. Speaker 200:01:53Thank you, Val, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us today. I'm excited to share our successes from the past year and our plans plans going forward. 2023 was an excellent year for Parkland. The entire team did exactly what we said we would do. Speaker 200:02:10We advanced our strategy, served our customers, delivered organic growth and captured synergies. Each part of our business contributed to our record year, and this gives me confidence in the quality of our strategy and our ability to deliver the ambitious targets we have set for ourselves. Before I highlight some specific accomplishments, I want to talk about safety, which as you know is a core value at Parkland. Since 2017, we have significantly improved our total recordable injury frequency. However, our progress last year was overshadowed by the tragic loss of one of our team members in a workplace accident. Speaker 200:02:49This loss was felt across Parkland and has the safely to their family at the end of their day. Let's move to Slide 3. I would like to start with the highlights from the past year, which demonstrate the way we continue to deliver on our commitments. As a result, our shareholders enjoyed a total return of approximately 50% through 2023. Our financial performance was outstanding. Speaker 200:03:19We grew our marketing business by 30% year over year through integration, synergy capture and organic growth. This growth more than offset a year over year reduction in our refinery EBITDA due to the successful completion of a planned turnaround at the Burnaby Refinery, where we have a long term target of less than 20% adjusted EBITDA contribution. We delivered $1,900,000,000 of adjusted EBITDA in the year, which is nearly $300,000,000 higher than last year and exceeded our initial guidance by 10%. This included $112,000,000 of adjusted EBITDA from our renewables business, which nearly doubled from the prior year. In 2023, we suspended M and A and focused on organic growth and synergies. Speaker 200:04:07We invested $200,000,000 of growth capital in conversions and rebrands, expansions of co processing capacity at the Burnaby Refinery, strategic supply infrastructure and our Journey Rewards program, including our partnership with Aeroplan. The remaining CapEx was for maintenance, which included the planned turnaround at the refinery. Through these investments, we expanded our On the Run brand to more than 700 stores, grew our Journey Rewards loyalty program to nearly 6,000,000 members and have seen significant organic growth in our International and Canada segments. Operationally, we have streamlined processes that have resulted in increased efficiency and cost savings. We are seeing the benefits in the turnaround of our U. Speaker 200:04:52S. Business. In 2023, we clearly demonstrated the cash generation of the business. We have reduced our leverage ratio to 2.8 times, which is now well within our target range. We also increased our dividend and repurchased $26,000,000 of common shares for cancellation in Q4. Speaker 200:05:11The success is a testament to the dedication of the Parkland team. And again, I want to express gratitude for their exceptional work. They are instrumental in delivering these results. With that, I will hand it over to Marcel to discuss our Q4 highlights on Slide 4. Speaker 300:05:26Thank you, Bob, and good morning, everyone. Parkland had a great 4th quarter and delivered adjusted EBITDA of 4 $63,000,000 Canada delivered adjusted EBITDA of $190,000,000 which was consistent with last year. Fuel unit margins were driven higher by our supply and logistics capabilities as well as favorable market conditions. We also saw the benefits of our Husky and Crevier acquisition completed in 2022 come through. These positive drivers were offset by reduced demand in our commercial business due to unseasonably warm weather in Q4 and higher operating expenses. Speaker 300:06:07Our operational KPIs show the benefit of consistent execution and organic growth investments. Company owned same store fuel volumes were up nearly 7% in the quarter, driven by our Journey Rewards program, which continues to attract customers to the forecourt and into our convenience stores. Food and convenience company same store sales growth, excluding cigarettes, was 1.2% and we delivered gross margins of 36%. Convenience alone was up 4%, reflecting the impact strong center of store and packaged beverage sales. We did see some weakness in our M and M food market channel, reflecting customers being cautious with discretionary spend. Speaker 300:06:50We are adjusting our offers accordingly. Our international segment delivered adjusted EBITDA of $157,000,000 in Q4. This is up 43% from last year. We delivered organic growth with higher volumes in our commercial business and strong fuel unit margins. We also captured synergies from our Jamaica acquisition and our supply advantage. Speaker 300:07:14We are positioned to win in fast growing markets like Guyana and Suriname and continue to win contracts in the utility space. This further diversifies our international business and is creating more ratable quarterly results, which we saw in 2023. Our USA segment delivered adjusted EBITDA of $39,000,000 in the quarter. This is down 15% from last year. Across the U. Speaker 300:07:39S, industry retail fuel volumes were down and we saw this reflected in negative company same store volume growth. In Florida, we did not adjust our pricing fast enough in a dynamic environment and as a result, we lost some market share. We have fixed this and our volumes are back in line with industry trends. These impacts were partly offset by organic initiatives that drove higher convenience store margin better than industry same store sales growth and lower operating expenses. Commercial fuel unit margins were also lower due to unfavorable market conditions. Speaker 300:08:18We experienced some one time impacts in the U. S. During the year that do not reflect underlying performance and believe the business now has a solid foundation to grow. We are confident in the future of our USA segment and in 2024, we expect to deliver between $230,000,000 to $250,000,000 of adjusted EBITDA. Our refining segment generated adjusted EBITDA of $106,000,000 which is down $22,000,000 from last year. Speaker 300:08:45Composite utilization was 90% during the quarter compared to 98% the prior year, which was caused primarily by a third party power outage. Crack spreads also normalized during the quarter. In the Q1 of 2024, the Burnaby Refinery was temporarily shut down following a period of extremely cold weather. We expect to resume normal operations early March. During the expected downtime of approximately 8 weeks, we have been able to complete repairs and previously planned maintenance activities, which will allow us to recover some lost utilization and improve our capture of refining cracks going forward. Speaker 300:09:25I would like to thank the refinery team for their continued commitment to safely executing the work. We have developed a robust recovery plan and still expect to meet our 2024 adjusted EBITDA guidance range of $1,950,000,000 to $2,050,000,000 despite the impacts of the refinery outage. In 2023, Bartrand delivered cash flow from operating activities of $1,800,000,000 up more than 30% from 2022 and available cash flow was $812,000,000 or $4.60 per share. We use these funds to grow the business as well as repay nearly $750,000,000 of debt on our credit facility in 2023, and this lowered our leverage ratio to 2.8 times. We also bought back more than 580,000 shares in November December. Speaker 300:10:16And with that, let's turn to Slide 5. This slide is a reminder of our longer term ambitions that we presented at our Investor Day in November. We expect to grow adjusted EBITDA to $2,500,000,000 by 2028, driven mainly by organic growth initiatives, cost efficiencies and some additional synergy capture from past acquisitions. We see the potential to grow adjusted EBITDA up to $3,000,000,000 by 20.28 through acquisitions, but that is subject to any deals being accretive relative to the alternative. We also expect to grow our available cash flow per share by almost $4 to $8.50 per share by 20.28. Speaker 300:10:57In this period, we expect to generate about $6,000,000,000 of cash flow that is available for shareholder distributions, reducing leverage and growth. As we shared previously, we intend to allocate about $1,500,000,000 to dividends and firm share buybacks. This allows for continued annual dividend increases as we have now done for the past 12 years. We also expect to invest around $1,500,000,000 or $300,000,000 per year in organic growth. As we have grown the Parkland platform in the past few years, we see many opportunities to invest in our own business with at least a 15% expected return. Speaker 300:11:37And finally, we have about $3,000,000,000 available cash remaining. We will prioritize reducing our leverage to the low end of our target range by 2025. This leaves the rest for inorganic growth and or additional share buybacks. We will allocate this to the highest value opportunity and focus on driving shareholder value. And with that, I will hand it over to Bob to discuss Slide 6. Speaker 200:12:02Thank you, Marcel. I am confident that we can deliver those targets with the growth platform we have built. Parkland is a much larger company today. We have significantly increased our scale through strategic investments made in our customer offerings and supplying network. The Parkland strategy aims to continue building upon our customer advantage and leverage our supply advantage. Speaker 200:12:25These two pillars reinforce each other and provide opportunities to further grow and increase returns. Our customer advantage is built on the value we provide to our retail and commercial customers. We gain their loyalty through our proprietary brands, differentiated offer, extensive network, competitive pricing, reliable service and loyalty programs. These programs have been our consistent focus for years and we are starting to see the benefit of the team's hard work. Our supply advantage aims to achieve the lowest cost to serve through proprietary logistics assets, industry leading capabilities and significant scale. Speaker 200:13:01This allows Parkland to generate industry leading margins and deliver value to both customers and shareholders. These two advantages complement each other and drive synergies. As we create more loyal customers, increased demand for our products, we increase our supply advantage with greater volumes and scale. In turn, we can attract more customers and continue to grow. This strategy is underpinned by the values, integrity and dedication of the One Parkland team. Speaker 200:13:27I have every confidence that they are going to deliver the ambitious targets we have set. In conclusion, I want to thank the Parkland team for our success over the past year. Together, we've achieved remarkable results, and I'm excited about the opportunities that lie ahead. Let's continue to work collaboratively and build on our successes in the coming quarters and years. With that, I'll turn it back to the operator for questions. Operator00:13:57Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer Our first question comes from the line of Luke Hannon from Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead. Speaker 400:14:36Thanks and good morning everyone. I wanted to start on, if we can, on the refinery recovery plan. Bob, can you describe maybe in just a little bit more detail to the extent that you can what the core elements of our this plan? I think I heard you correctly in that there should be some catch up when it comes to the utilization as a result of the work that you've done there. But maybe just a little bit more detail on what the core pillars are of that plan? Speaker 500:15:03Yes. Good morning, Luke, and thanks for the question. As you indicated, we are bringing the refinery back up. It will be next week and we will start to bring it back online, which leaves us with about an 8 week shortfall. I would say a few things. Speaker 500:15:22One is we had a minor shutdown plan for this period. So from it was taken into account in our budget, part of the slowdown. The second thing was on the recovery side, we've been able to pull forward some work that we plan to do later in the year, which allows us to continue to run the refinery at higher rates, but also come out at a higher utilization than we had planned once we're back up and running, so we can make some up there. And then finally, we expect to be in a constructive crack environment when we bring the facility back up. Some of the other things on the optimization side, we're seeing a good market right now for carbon credits, particularly the Canadian carbon credits, which will allow us to monetize those as well on the bio blending and imports. Speaker 500:16:25Again, it's quite a constructive environment where we can make up certainly a big portion of the unplanned shutdown. I would say that the team is working hard to get it back online here, and they're making sure that they're prioritizing safety before they put the machine put the refinery back online. Speaker 400:16:50Okay. Thank you. And then for my follow-up here, I wanted to ask about the share repurchases. It was noted that you had done some in Q4 and it seems like you accelerated a little bit further in Q1 so far. So I'm just curious how we should be thinking about, 1, maybe further share repurchases or accelerated share repurchases in the near term here? Speaker 400:17:11And then maybe also if I can squeeze another one in here, how that speaks to your overall how that speaks to your overall near term thinking on capital allocation, specifically M and A and balancing that with share buybacks in the near term? Thanks. Speaker 500:17:26Yes. I'll ask Marcel to Speaker 300:17:28Yes. Good morning, Luc. So yes, we have so share buybacks we did some November, December. We've continued to do that actively in the Q1. Our NCIB is active at the moment and those share buybacks fit within the overall capital allocation framework that we laid out at Investor Day and I summarized a bit earlier here as well. Speaker 300:17:50So that's how it fits in there. I think our focus continues to be to bring leverage down, which we have now done within the range and we'll continue to do so. And then the allocation of the cash flow, which we have available, it's really how we look at M and A opportunities both from a strategic and value kind of fit relative to kind of the value of buying back the shares and we'll continue to do that. But we're we continue to be active with our NCIB program. Speaker 400:18:22Okay. Thank you very much. Operator00:18:26Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of John Royall from JP Morgan. Go ahead please. Speaker 600:18:33Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. So my first question is on the $24,000,000 guide. You've reiterated confidence in the $2,000,000,000 despite the 8 week refinery outage. Was there a contingency built in to the guide? Speaker 600:18:49Or do you think other parts of the business could make up for the loss? And I think Bob mentioned that you expect to come back into a better crack environment. Do we need better cracks that weren't in the plans or that then you're running to maintain that number just kind of trying to bridge to that $2,000,000,000 despite the outage? Speaker 500:19:09So good morning, John. And no, we don't actually need higher cracks to make the plant. Again, through we had planned to have a slowdown during this 8 week period anyways. So the cash flow that we have predicted in Q1 was less than what's already taken into account in the plan. And then other items like optimization, particularly around renewables and carbon credits is incremental to the plan as well as a higher utilization rate for the balance of the year. Speaker 500:19:49So those are the key items that allow us to have confidence in our guidance for the year. And so we're on track for being within the range that we had indicated the $19,501,000 to $2,050. Speaker 600:20:09Okay. Thank you. And then my second question is on the Canada business. Can you speak a little bit what's going right in Canada on the same store side, the same store gallon side? You've consistently throughout 2023 been doing kind of mid to high single digits there. Speaker 600:20:29I know you called out Journey, but any other drivers or weather impacts? Go ahead. Speaker 500:20:39Yes. Look, we have been well above industry. And our market share data would show that we've been increasing our market share. I would say the primary driver is the Journeys Rewards and that as we've indicated in the past, getting scale. And the other thing is we've been doing a lot of work on our back courts, which is pulling people in as well. Speaker 500:21:05We're seeing that trend well from an industry perspective, but also it has an offsetting benefit of selling more fuel. So I would say those are the 2 key drivers that we're seeing. Speaker 600:21:20Thank Operator00:21:23you. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ben Isaacson from Scotiabank. Please go ahead. Speaker 400:21:30Thank you very much and good morning everyone. Bob, you're in 2023, you improved your leverage, you focused on synergy capture organic growth. The stock did very, very well. Can you talk about what is the plan in 2024? What should we be looking for to get the stock to the next level? Speaker 500:21:52Look, I think we've laid that out in our Investor Day. And again, the focus that we'll see this year is again continued organic growth. The U. S. Business continued to come on, particularly through integration. Speaker 500:22:07We've guided that to $240,000,000 for the year, so some nice growth in that segment. And our international business continuing to perform. The team did well over the last couple of years. And would expect to maintain within that business. I would say on the balance sheet side, we'll continue to see increased strength in our balance sheet. Speaker 500:22:39And that gives us the optionality to continue to buy back shares as Marcel had chatted about and delever at the same time. Speaker 400:22:50Thank you for that. And then just as a follow-up, not to belabor the recovery plan at the refinery. Is it fair to say that lost EBITDA is probably somewhere in that kind of $75,000,000 to $100,000,000 area? And if so, what I'm interested in is the MG and A cost reductions that you're focused on, it seems like that's something that could be sustainable. Can you just kind of quantify that or to the best that you can? Speaker 500:23:18Yes. So look, I think your estimates on the low end is an accurate estimate. And again, look, there are a number there are many things that will help us make that up, but the primary one is being able to come out stronger. As I had indicated, we pulled forward some maintenance activities that we planned for later in the year, which would have had been a headwind on utilization. So we don't need to do that. Speaker 500:23:50Plus, we've been able to make some improvements, just allow us to run the refinery harder. So and then along with, like I said, some of the other activities, yes, I mean, those are the primary things that we're doing here to make sure that we're back on track. Speaker 300:24:14Yes. And then maybe just then on your MG and A comment, right. As you recall, we initiated some of that work in the middle of last year. And of course, then in 2024, we will have the full year benefits plus some additional benefits that took a little bit longer just a bit longer runway. So the answer is yes, there's more sustainable and there's more to go on the MG and A side and that also will make up a little bit of the shortfall here with the refinery. Speaker 400:24:41That's helpful. Thanks so much. Appreciate it. Operator00:24:45Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Michael Van Aelst from TD Cowen. Go ahead please. Speaker 700:24:53Good morning. I just wanted to touch on the U. S. Business. So the quarter, dollars 39,000,000 of EBITDA in the quarter and that was boosted quite a bit by a strong lubricants business. Speaker 700:25:06So can you talk about the sustainability of the 80% increase in the lubricants? And then on the flip side to that, it means the commercial business must have been quite weak. So how do you bridge the gap between what your kind of normalized run rate might have been in the Q4 to that $60,000,000 average or so that you're looking at for per quarter in the U. S. For 2024? Speaker 500:25:37Yes. So look, I would say the lubricants business is quite small. So it might be worth connecting with Val just to clarify that. I don't think that was a key driver of performance in the quarter. We talked about a couple of one time items. Speaker 500:25:56One is on our pricing system. So as you're aware, we've been doing a lot of work on that business. One of the initiatives was to roll out our pricing system. And we had some issues with that in our Florida rock, where it wasn't as responsive as we would have liked and we had some bad information and we're out of market for a period there that since been fixed. I would say when you peel that out, our data would show that we tracked at industry throughout the rest of the business, so indicating that we don't have any structural issues in the business. Speaker 500:26:38That's one item. And then the second item is, as the team there continues to dig in and make improvements, we're seeing an increase in the run rate, which brings us back to that $240,000,000 for the year, dollars 60,000 roughly $60,000,000 a quarter. Speaker 700:26:58Okay. And then on the commercial and wholesale business, if I might, just the obviously very strong growth. Are there any headwinds that you're seeing, whether it be ocean freight or anything else that might cause that to slow down considerably going forward? Or should we expect some reasonable growth in the international continuum? Speaker 500:27:23Look, I think the international business, we saw a lot of growth last year. So I wouldn't expect a ton of growth in that business this year. And we did have constructive commodity markets that helped that business last year. I would say the businesses and to your point, there are some headwinds around shipping costs. I mean, generally, those costs can be transferred into the market because everybody has the same cost structure. Speaker 500:27:54And so I would say that business is on track for a year that was as strong as last year. Speaker 300:28:02And then maybe, Mike, just to add to what Bob said, like we talked about continued growth in the Guyana market with all the offshore work that's happening, we start seeing the first bits of that a similar kind of event happening in Suriname. So those are kind of good commercial contracts. And one of the things which we've added over the last few years are sales to utilities, which are more ratable during the year than like what we perhaps have seen in the past and you see that come through in international as well with strong Q2 and Q3 in addition to the usual season of Q4 and Q1. So more ratability going forward in international from what we saw in a few years back to the addition of more commercial, more all year round business as well as utility contracts that we won. Speaker 800:28:52Thank you. Operator00:28:57Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Neil Mehta from Goldman Speaker 800:29:06Sachs. First question I have is just around that as you bring back Burnaby, your perspective on the crude markets Speaker 500:29:19Neil, you cut out on us. Operator00:29:33As we are hearing no response, I will go ahead and move forward to the next question. Our next comes from the line of Luke Davis from RBC. Go ahead please. Speaker 700:29:47Yes, thanks. Good morning. Just seeing a headline here suggesting that you guys have put up 157 Canadian C Stores to be divested through NCR Realty. Just wondering if you can speak to some of the details there, what the key drivers were, how that relates to your private or your previous divestiture targets, Anything you can just speak to kind of the quality of the stations, locations, all that sort of stuff? Speaker 500:30:14Yes. This is consistent with the priorities we laid out in our divestiture program. We've talked about high value retail sites, which we've made good progress on. We've talked about our various aspects of our commercial business. And then the third one was around low productivity sites. Speaker 500:30:38So these are sites that don't quite fit where we're pushing our brands, but still are good sites. So in most cases, these will be sold to partners, dealers that will own the business and continue to sell branded product through them. So we're just changing the operating model of those businesses and allowing us to pull some of the capital out. And it's all part of our $500,000,000 divestiture program, which we committed to by the end of 2025 and we're making good progress. Speaker 700:31:16Got you. And would that be incremental to the $325,000,000 that are already in process? Speaker 300:31:26That is included in the 325. Speaker 700:31:29Okay, great. Thank you. Operator00:31:34Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Steve Hansen from Raymond James. Please go ahead. Yes. Speaker 900:31:42Good morning, guys. Thanks for the time. Marcel, I think you referenced the M and M offering was a little slower in the period. Just curious if that weakness extended across the rest of the food offering at all? And what type of adjustments you are implementing to account for that demand shift at all? Speaker 500:31:59Yes. So M and M was off the frozen food segment. We did see some pressure on consumers, which was consistent with other food retailers. I would say on our fresh food offer, we continue to make good progress in terms of rolling out frozen within our in our convenience store network. And again, we won't see the benefits of that because really we just completed the rollout at the tail end of the year. Speaker 500:32:32And then secondly, on our fresh offers, which were in market in 3 locations. So again, those are on track. We have M and M, certainly has been adjusting its volume margin just to make sure that we're continuing to be able to meet the needs of our customers. Speaker 900:32:58Okay, great. That's helpful. And just a follow-up. I see that cruise booking continue to hit new records. This is perhaps a bit of a naive question, but how much visibility do you get into that types of customer demands in the Caribbean as you look at sort of staging fuel supply and that kind of thing in the future is do you get a good read into those customer bookings and what kind of demand you expect through the balance of the year? Speaker 500:33:21Yes. No, we do see we do continue to see robust demand in those markets and we do monitor customer bookings, which remain throughout the region. Speaker 900:33:34Okay, very helpful. Thanks. Operator00:33:38Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Neil Mehta from Goldman Sachs. Go ahead, please. Speaker 800:33:45All right. Can you guys hear me? Speaker 500:33:48Yes. Yes, Neil. Speaker 800:33:49Okay. Sorry about that. First question is just on the crude markets. There's been a lot of volatility in Western Canada. As you bring Burnaby online, do you see commercial opportunities around this? Speaker 800:34:03And then just your thoughts on what TMX means for both crude and product markets for Western Canada? Speaker 500:34:11Yes. No, they're good questions. I mean, look, we're not sensitive really to the price of crude. It's the spreads and spreads remain constructive, particularly to the light crudes, which we use in the Burnaby refinery. So we've seen that environment stay consistent. Speaker 500:34:30And don't expect it to change here going forward. TMX, interesting mainly bringing heavy capacity online. And our analysis would show that it will have little to no impact on the light spread. So we don't expect to see a significant impact there. And on the product side, I mean, Vancouver is currently supplied by Burnaby or primarily out of Edmonton. Speaker 500:35:06And so that product is already in the market. So we don't expect that to create any changes in terms of the crude the product supply and availability in that market? Speaker 300:35:18Yes, Anil, we are active shippers on the pipeline. And of course, with our own crude being there, there's always opportunities to optimize as the markets move and that's an active program that's ongoing. And so when Bob earlier referred to kind of higher capture, part of that higher capture comes from optimizing those positions that we have in the market. And so generally volatility is good. Speaker 800:35:42Yes. And both did you get talked about this, you've made a lot of progress around deleveraging and part of that's been the asset sale market. So I just love your perspective on, is there room for further asset monetization? And as we think about M and A, is it fair to say that Parkland at this point is digesting a lot of the M and A that is done as opposed to being active in the acquisition market this year? Thank you. Speaker 500:36:11Yes. So our deleveraging has primarily come from cash flow from the enterprise. So it hasn't been materially boosted by divestitures at this point. We'll see that more in 2024 and 2025 as we continue to work through the pipeline of opportunities. And yes, M and A, look, we're still in a mode here where we're integrating. Speaker 500:36:37And as we talked about in our Investor Day, our first priority right now is to get the benefits we can internally out of the business, focusing on organic growth and synergy capture of which there's still opportunity and it's a core part of our plan to grow the business from $2,000,000,000 to $2,500,000,000 of EBITDA without M and A. Speaker 800:37:04Thanks, Bob. Operator00:37:08Thank you. This concludes our question and answer session. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today.Read morePowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallParkland Q4 202300:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2x Earnings DocumentsSlide DeckPress Release Parkland Earnings HeadlinesCIBC Cuts Parkland (TSE:PKI) Price Target to C$43.00April 20 at 1:25 AM | americanbankingnews.comCanaccord Genuity Group Cuts Parkland (TSE:PKI) Price Target to C$42.00April 20 at 1:25 AM | americanbankingnews.comClaim Your FREE Protection GuideIn the final days of his first term, Trump quietly left open an "off the books" wealth-protection loophole hidden in the 6,871 pages of the IRS Tax Code... And since then, "in the know" patriots have quietly used this same "Trump loophole" to shield their life savings from the economic chaos. But with Trump now forcefully bringing back millions of manufacturing jobs from Mexico, China, and the entire BRICS anti-dollar coalition...April 20, 2025 | American Alternative (Ad)ATB Capital Cuts Parkland (TSE:PKI) Price Target to C$45.00April 20 at 1:25 AM | americanbankingnews.comFY2025 EPS Estimates for Parkland Lowered by Atb Cap MarketsApril 19 at 2:45 AM | americanbankingnews.comRaymond James Lowers Parkland (TSE:PKI) Price Target to C$45.00April 19 at 1:27 AM | americanbankingnews.comSee More Parkland Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Parkland? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Parkland and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About ParklandParkland (TSE:PKI) Corp distributes and markets fuels and lubricants. Refined fuels and other petroleum products are among the variety of offerings the company delivers to motorists, businesses, consumers, and wholesalers in the United States and Canada. Parkland operates through several subsidiaries that are either company owned-and retailer-operated, dealer-owned and dealer-operated, or dealer-cosigned and dealer-operated. 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There are 10 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Good morning. My name is Lara, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Parkland Q4 Analyst Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. Operator00:00:28Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference over to Valerie Roberts, Director, Investor Relations for Parkland. Please go ahead. Speaker 100:00:38Thank you, operator. With me today on the call are Bob Espie, President and CEO and Marcel Toonissen, Chief Financial Officer. This call is webcast, and I encourage listeners to follow along with the supporting slides. We will go through our prepared remarks and then open it up for questions with the investment community. Please limit yourself to one question and a follow-up is necessary. Speaker 100:00:56And if you have other questions, re enter the queue. We would ask analysts to follow-up directly with the Investor Relations team afterwards for any detailed modeling questions. During our call today, we may make forward looking statements related to expected future performance. These statements are based on current views and assumptions and are subject to uncertainties, which are difficult to predict. These uncertainties include, but are not limited to, expected operating results and industry conditions, among other factors. Speaker 100:01:20Risk factors applicable to our business are set out in our annual information form and management's discussion and analysis. We will also be discussing non GAAP and other financial measures, which do not have any standardized meanings prescribed by IFRS. These measures are identified and defined in Parkland's continuous disclosure documents, which are available on our website or on SEDAR. Please refer to these documents as they identify factors which may cause actual results to differ materially from any forward looking statements. Dollar amounts discussed in today's call are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted. Speaker 100:01:50I will now turn the call over to Bob. Speaker 200:01:53Thank you, Val, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us today. I'm excited to share our successes from the past year and our plans plans going forward. 2023 was an excellent year for Parkland. The entire team did exactly what we said we would do. Speaker 200:02:10We advanced our strategy, served our customers, delivered organic growth and captured synergies. Each part of our business contributed to our record year, and this gives me confidence in the quality of our strategy and our ability to deliver the ambitious targets we have set for ourselves. Before I highlight some specific accomplishments, I want to talk about safety, which as you know is a core value at Parkland. Since 2017, we have significantly improved our total recordable injury frequency. However, our progress last year was overshadowed by the tragic loss of one of our team members in a workplace accident. Speaker 200:02:49This loss was felt across Parkland and has the safely to their family at the end of their day. Let's move to Slide 3. I would like to start with the highlights from the past year, which demonstrate the way we continue to deliver on our commitments. As a result, our shareholders enjoyed a total return of approximately 50% through 2023. Our financial performance was outstanding. Speaker 200:03:19We grew our marketing business by 30% year over year through integration, synergy capture and organic growth. This growth more than offset a year over year reduction in our refinery EBITDA due to the successful completion of a planned turnaround at the Burnaby Refinery, where we have a long term target of less than 20% adjusted EBITDA contribution. We delivered $1,900,000,000 of adjusted EBITDA in the year, which is nearly $300,000,000 higher than last year and exceeded our initial guidance by 10%. This included $112,000,000 of adjusted EBITDA from our renewables business, which nearly doubled from the prior year. In 2023, we suspended M and A and focused on organic growth and synergies. Speaker 200:04:07We invested $200,000,000 of growth capital in conversions and rebrands, expansions of co processing capacity at the Burnaby Refinery, strategic supply infrastructure and our Journey Rewards program, including our partnership with Aeroplan. The remaining CapEx was for maintenance, which included the planned turnaround at the refinery. Through these investments, we expanded our On the Run brand to more than 700 stores, grew our Journey Rewards loyalty program to nearly 6,000,000 members and have seen significant organic growth in our International and Canada segments. Operationally, we have streamlined processes that have resulted in increased efficiency and cost savings. We are seeing the benefits in the turnaround of our U. Speaker 200:04:52S. Business. In 2023, we clearly demonstrated the cash generation of the business. We have reduced our leverage ratio to 2.8 times, which is now well within our target range. We also increased our dividend and repurchased $26,000,000 of common shares for cancellation in Q4. Speaker 200:05:11The success is a testament to the dedication of the Parkland team. And again, I want to express gratitude for their exceptional work. They are instrumental in delivering these results. With that, I will hand it over to Marcel to discuss our Q4 highlights on Slide 4. Speaker 300:05:26Thank you, Bob, and good morning, everyone. Parkland had a great 4th quarter and delivered adjusted EBITDA of 4 $63,000,000 Canada delivered adjusted EBITDA of $190,000,000 which was consistent with last year. Fuel unit margins were driven higher by our supply and logistics capabilities as well as favorable market conditions. We also saw the benefits of our Husky and Crevier acquisition completed in 2022 come through. These positive drivers were offset by reduced demand in our commercial business due to unseasonably warm weather in Q4 and higher operating expenses. Speaker 300:06:07Our operational KPIs show the benefit of consistent execution and organic growth investments. Company owned same store fuel volumes were up nearly 7% in the quarter, driven by our Journey Rewards program, which continues to attract customers to the forecourt and into our convenience stores. Food and convenience company same store sales growth, excluding cigarettes, was 1.2% and we delivered gross margins of 36%. Convenience alone was up 4%, reflecting the impact strong center of store and packaged beverage sales. We did see some weakness in our M and M food market channel, reflecting customers being cautious with discretionary spend. Speaker 300:06:50We are adjusting our offers accordingly. Our international segment delivered adjusted EBITDA of $157,000,000 in Q4. This is up 43% from last year. We delivered organic growth with higher volumes in our commercial business and strong fuel unit margins. We also captured synergies from our Jamaica acquisition and our supply advantage. Speaker 300:07:14We are positioned to win in fast growing markets like Guyana and Suriname and continue to win contracts in the utility space. This further diversifies our international business and is creating more ratable quarterly results, which we saw in 2023. Our USA segment delivered adjusted EBITDA of $39,000,000 in the quarter. This is down 15% from last year. Across the U. Speaker 300:07:39S, industry retail fuel volumes were down and we saw this reflected in negative company same store volume growth. In Florida, we did not adjust our pricing fast enough in a dynamic environment and as a result, we lost some market share. We have fixed this and our volumes are back in line with industry trends. These impacts were partly offset by organic initiatives that drove higher convenience store margin better than industry same store sales growth and lower operating expenses. Commercial fuel unit margins were also lower due to unfavorable market conditions. Speaker 300:08:18We experienced some one time impacts in the U. S. During the year that do not reflect underlying performance and believe the business now has a solid foundation to grow. We are confident in the future of our USA segment and in 2024, we expect to deliver between $230,000,000 to $250,000,000 of adjusted EBITDA. Our refining segment generated adjusted EBITDA of $106,000,000 which is down $22,000,000 from last year. Speaker 300:08:45Composite utilization was 90% during the quarter compared to 98% the prior year, which was caused primarily by a third party power outage. Crack spreads also normalized during the quarter. In the Q1 of 2024, the Burnaby Refinery was temporarily shut down following a period of extremely cold weather. We expect to resume normal operations early March. During the expected downtime of approximately 8 weeks, we have been able to complete repairs and previously planned maintenance activities, which will allow us to recover some lost utilization and improve our capture of refining cracks going forward. Speaker 300:09:25I would like to thank the refinery team for their continued commitment to safely executing the work. We have developed a robust recovery plan and still expect to meet our 2024 adjusted EBITDA guidance range of $1,950,000,000 to $2,050,000,000 despite the impacts of the refinery outage. In 2023, Bartrand delivered cash flow from operating activities of $1,800,000,000 up more than 30% from 2022 and available cash flow was $812,000,000 or $4.60 per share. We use these funds to grow the business as well as repay nearly $750,000,000 of debt on our credit facility in 2023, and this lowered our leverage ratio to 2.8 times. We also bought back more than 580,000 shares in November December. Speaker 300:10:16And with that, let's turn to Slide 5. This slide is a reminder of our longer term ambitions that we presented at our Investor Day in November. We expect to grow adjusted EBITDA to $2,500,000,000 by 2028, driven mainly by organic growth initiatives, cost efficiencies and some additional synergy capture from past acquisitions. We see the potential to grow adjusted EBITDA up to $3,000,000,000 by 20.28 through acquisitions, but that is subject to any deals being accretive relative to the alternative. We also expect to grow our available cash flow per share by almost $4 to $8.50 per share by 20.28. Speaker 300:10:57In this period, we expect to generate about $6,000,000,000 of cash flow that is available for shareholder distributions, reducing leverage and growth. As we shared previously, we intend to allocate about $1,500,000,000 to dividends and firm share buybacks. This allows for continued annual dividend increases as we have now done for the past 12 years. We also expect to invest around $1,500,000,000 or $300,000,000 per year in organic growth. As we have grown the Parkland platform in the past few years, we see many opportunities to invest in our own business with at least a 15% expected return. Speaker 300:11:37And finally, we have about $3,000,000,000 available cash remaining. We will prioritize reducing our leverage to the low end of our target range by 2025. This leaves the rest for inorganic growth and or additional share buybacks. We will allocate this to the highest value opportunity and focus on driving shareholder value. And with that, I will hand it over to Bob to discuss Slide 6. Speaker 200:12:02Thank you, Marcel. I am confident that we can deliver those targets with the growth platform we have built. Parkland is a much larger company today. We have significantly increased our scale through strategic investments made in our customer offerings and supplying network. The Parkland strategy aims to continue building upon our customer advantage and leverage our supply advantage. Speaker 200:12:25These two pillars reinforce each other and provide opportunities to further grow and increase returns. Our customer advantage is built on the value we provide to our retail and commercial customers. We gain their loyalty through our proprietary brands, differentiated offer, extensive network, competitive pricing, reliable service and loyalty programs. These programs have been our consistent focus for years and we are starting to see the benefit of the team's hard work. Our supply advantage aims to achieve the lowest cost to serve through proprietary logistics assets, industry leading capabilities and significant scale. Speaker 200:13:01This allows Parkland to generate industry leading margins and deliver value to both customers and shareholders. These two advantages complement each other and drive synergies. As we create more loyal customers, increased demand for our products, we increase our supply advantage with greater volumes and scale. In turn, we can attract more customers and continue to grow. This strategy is underpinned by the values, integrity and dedication of the One Parkland team. Speaker 200:13:27I have every confidence that they are going to deliver the ambitious targets we have set. In conclusion, I want to thank the Parkland team for our success over the past year. Together, we've achieved remarkable results, and I'm excited about the opportunities that lie ahead. Let's continue to work collaboratively and build on our successes in the coming quarters and years. With that, I'll turn it back to the operator for questions. Operator00:13:57Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer Our first question comes from the line of Luke Hannon from Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead. Speaker 400:14:36Thanks and good morning everyone. I wanted to start on, if we can, on the refinery recovery plan. Bob, can you describe maybe in just a little bit more detail to the extent that you can what the core elements of our this plan? I think I heard you correctly in that there should be some catch up when it comes to the utilization as a result of the work that you've done there. But maybe just a little bit more detail on what the core pillars are of that plan? Speaker 500:15:03Yes. Good morning, Luke, and thanks for the question. As you indicated, we are bringing the refinery back up. It will be next week and we will start to bring it back online, which leaves us with about an 8 week shortfall. I would say a few things. Speaker 500:15:22One is we had a minor shutdown plan for this period. So from it was taken into account in our budget, part of the slowdown. The second thing was on the recovery side, we've been able to pull forward some work that we plan to do later in the year, which allows us to continue to run the refinery at higher rates, but also come out at a higher utilization than we had planned once we're back up and running, so we can make some up there. And then finally, we expect to be in a constructive crack environment when we bring the facility back up. Some of the other things on the optimization side, we're seeing a good market right now for carbon credits, particularly the Canadian carbon credits, which will allow us to monetize those as well on the bio blending and imports. Speaker 500:16:25Again, it's quite a constructive environment where we can make up certainly a big portion of the unplanned shutdown. I would say that the team is working hard to get it back online here, and they're making sure that they're prioritizing safety before they put the machine put the refinery back online. Speaker 400:16:50Okay. Thank you. And then for my follow-up here, I wanted to ask about the share repurchases. It was noted that you had done some in Q4 and it seems like you accelerated a little bit further in Q1 so far. So I'm just curious how we should be thinking about, 1, maybe further share repurchases or accelerated share repurchases in the near term here? Speaker 400:17:11And then maybe also if I can squeeze another one in here, how that speaks to your overall how that speaks to your overall near term thinking on capital allocation, specifically M and A and balancing that with share buybacks in the near term? Thanks. Speaker 500:17:26Yes. I'll ask Marcel to Speaker 300:17:28Yes. Good morning, Luc. So yes, we have so share buybacks we did some November, December. We've continued to do that actively in the Q1. Our NCIB is active at the moment and those share buybacks fit within the overall capital allocation framework that we laid out at Investor Day and I summarized a bit earlier here as well. Speaker 300:17:50So that's how it fits in there. I think our focus continues to be to bring leverage down, which we have now done within the range and we'll continue to do so. And then the allocation of the cash flow, which we have available, it's really how we look at M and A opportunities both from a strategic and value kind of fit relative to kind of the value of buying back the shares and we'll continue to do that. But we're we continue to be active with our NCIB program. Speaker 400:18:22Okay. Thank you very much. Operator00:18:26Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of John Royall from JP Morgan. Go ahead please. Speaker 600:18:33Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. So my first question is on the $24,000,000 guide. You've reiterated confidence in the $2,000,000,000 despite the 8 week refinery outage. Was there a contingency built in to the guide? Speaker 600:18:49Or do you think other parts of the business could make up for the loss? And I think Bob mentioned that you expect to come back into a better crack environment. Do we need better cracks that weren't in the plans or that then you're running to maintain that number just kind of trying to bridge to that $2,000,000,000 despite the outage? Speaker 500:19:09So good morning, John. And no, we don't actually need higher cracks to make the plant. Again, through we had planned to have a slowdown during this 8 week period anyways. So the cash flow that we have predicted in Q1 was less than what's already taken into account in the plan. And then other items like optimization, particularly around renewables and carbon credits is incremental to the plan as well as a higher utilization rate for the balance of the year. Speaker 500:19:49So those are the key items that allow us to have confidence in our guidance for the year. And so we're on track for being within the range that we had indicated the $19,501,000 to $2,050. Speaker 600:20:09Okay. Thank you. And then my second question is on the Canada business. Can you speak a little bit what's going right in Canada on the same store side, the same store gallon side? You've consistently throughout 2023 been doing kind of mid to high single digits there. Speaker 600:20:29I know you called out Journey, but any other drivers or weather impacts? Go ahead. Speaker 500:20:39Yes. Look, we have been well above industry. And our market share data would show that we've been increasing our market share. I would say the primary driver is the Journeys Rewards and that as we've indicated in the past, getting scale. And the other thing is we've been doing a lot of work on our back courts, which is pulling people in as well. Speaker 500:21:05We're seeing that trend well from an industry perspective, but also it has an offsetting benefit of selling more fuel. So I would say those are the 2 key drivers that we're seeing. Speaker 600:21:20Thank Operator00:21:23you. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ben Isaacson from Scotiabank. Please go ahead. Speaker 400:21:30Thank you very much and good morning everyone. Bob, you're in 2023, you improved your leverage, you focused on synergy capture organic growth. The stock did very, very well. Can you talk about what is the plan in 2024? What should we be looking for to get the stock to the next level? Speaker 500:21:52Look, I think we've laid that out in our Investor Day. And again, the focus that we'll see this year is again continued organic growth. The U. S. Business continued to come on, particularly through integration. Speaker 500:22:07We've guided that to $240,000,000 for the year, so some nice growth in that segment. And our international business continuing to perform. The team did well over the last couple of years. And would expect to maintain within that business. I would say on the balance sheet side, we'll continue to see increased strength in our balance sheet. Speaker 500:22:39And that gives us the optionality to continue to buy back shares as Marcel had chatted about and delever at the same time. Speaker 400:22:50Thank you for that. And then just as a follow-up, not to belabor the recovery plan at the refinery. Is it fair to say that lost EBITDA is probably somewhere in that kind of $75,000,000 to $100,000,000 area? And if so, what I'm interested in is the MG and A cost reductions that you're focused on, it seems like that's something that could be sustainable. Can you just kind of quantify that or to the best that you can? Speaker 500:23:18Yes. So look, I think your estimates on the low end is an accurate estimate. And again, look, there are a number there are many things that will help us make that up, but the primary one is being able to come out stronger. As I had indicated, we pulled forward some maintenance activities that we planned for later in the year, which would have had been a headwind on utilization. So we don't need to do that. Speaker 500:23:50Plus, we've been able to make some improvements, just allow us to run the refinery harder. So and then along with, like I said, some of the other activities, yes, I mean, those are the primary things that we're doing here to make sure that we're back on track. Speaker 300:24:14Yes. And then maybe just then on your MG and A comment, right. As you recall, we initiated some of that work in the middle of last year. And of course, then in 2024, we will have the full year benefits plus some additional benefits that took a little bit longer just a bit longer runway. So the answer is yes, there's more sustainable and there's more to go on the MG and A side and that also will make up a little bit of the shortfall here with the refinery. Speaker 400:24:41That's helpful. Thanks so much. Appreciate it. Operator00:24:45Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Michael Van Aelst from TD Cowen. Go ahead please. Speaker 700:24:53Good morning. I just wanted to touch on the U. S. Business. So the quarter, dollars 39,000,000 of EBITDA in the quarter and that was boosted quite a bit by a strong lubricants business. Speaker 700:25:06So can you talk about the sustainability of the 80% increase in the lubricants? And then on the flip side to that, it means the commercial business must have been quite weak. So how do you bridge the gap between what your kind of normalized run rate might have been in the Q4 to that $60,000,000 average or so that you're looking at for per quarter in the U. S. For 2024? Speaker 500:25:37Yes. So look, I would say the lubricants business is quite small. So it might be worth connecting with Val just to clarify that. I don't think that was a key driver of performance in the quarter. We talked about a couple of one time items. Speaker 500:25:56One is on our pricing system. So as you're aware, we've been doing a lot of work on that business. One of the initiatives was to roll out our pricing system. And we had some issues with that in our Florida rock, where it wasn't as responsive as we would have liked and we had some bad information and we're out of market for a period there that since been fixed. I would say when you peel that out, our data would show that we tracked at industry throughout the rest of the business, so indicating that we don't have any structural issues in the business. Speaker 500:26:38That's one item. And then the second item is, as the team there continues to dig in and make improvements, we're seeing an increase in the run rate, which brings us back to that $240,000,000 for the year, dollars 60,000 roughly $60,000,000 a quarter. Speaker 700:26:58Okay. And then on the commercial and wholesale business, if I might, just the obviously very strong growth. Are there any headwinds that you're seeing, whether it be ocean freight or anything else that might cause that to slow down considerably going forward? Or should we expect some reasonable growth in the international continuum? Speaker 500:27:23Look, I think the international business, we saw a lot of growth last year. So I wouldn't expect a ton of growth in that business this year. And we did have constructive commodity markets that helped that business last year. I would say the businesses and to your point, there are some headwinds around shipping costs. I mean, generally, those costs can be transferred into the market because everybody has the same cost structure. Speaker 500:27:54And so I would say that business is on track for a year that was as strong as last year. Speaker 300:28:02And then maybe, Mike, just to add to what Bob said, like we talked about continued growth in the Guyana market with all the offshore work that's happening, we start seeing the first bits of that a similar kind of event happening in Suriname. So those are kind of good commercial contracts. And one of the things which we've added over the last few years are sales to utilities, which are more ratable during the year than like what we perhaps have seen in the past and you see that come through in international as well with strong Q2 and Q3 in addition to the usual season of Q4 and Q1. So more ratability going forward in international from what we saw in a few years back to the addition of more commercial, more all year round business as well as utility contracts that we won. Speaker 800:28:52Thank you. Operator00:28:57Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Neil Mehta from Goldman Speaker 800:29:06Sachs. First question I have is just around that as you bring back Burnaby, your perspective on the crude markets Speaker 500:29:19Neil, you cut out on us. Operator00:29:33As we are hearing no response, I will go ahead and move forward to the next question. Our next comes from the line of Luke Davis from RBC. Go ahead please. Speaker 700:29:47Yes, thanks. Good morning. Just seeing a headline here suggesting that you guys have put up 157 Canadian C Stores to be divested through NCR Realty. Just wondering if you can speak to some of the details there, what the key drivers were, how that relates to your private or your previous divestiture targets, Anything you can just speak to kind of the quality of the stations, locations, all that sort of stuff? Speaker 500:30:14Yes. This is consistent with the priorities we laid out in our divestiture program. We've talked about high value retail sites, which we've made good progress on. We've talked about our various aspects of our commercial business. And then the third one was around low productivity sites. Speaker 500:30:38So these are sites that don't quite fit where we're pushing our brands, but still are good sites. So in most cases, these will be sold to partners, dealers that will own the business and continue to sell branded product through them. So we're just changing the operating model of those businesses and allowing us to pull some of the capital out. And it's all part of our $500,000,000 divestiture program, which we committed to by the end of 2025 and we're making good progress. Speaker 700:31:16Got you. And would that be incremental to the $325,000,000 that are already in process? Speaker 300:31:26That is included in the 325. Speaker 700:31:29Okay, great. Thank you. Operator00:31:34Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Steve Hansen from Raymond James. Please go ahead. Yes. Speaker 900:31:42Good morning, guys. Thanks for the time. Marcel, I think you referenced the M and M offering was a little slower in the period. Just curious if that weakness extended across the rest of the food offering at all? And what type of adjustments you are implementing to account for that demand shift at all? Speaker 500:31:59Yes. So M and M was off the frozen food segment. We did see some pressure on consumers, which was consistent with other food retailers. I would say on our fresh food offer, we continue to make good progress in terms of rolling out frozen within our in our convenience store network. And again, we won't see the benefits of that because really we just completed the rollout at the tail end of the year. Speaker 500:32:32And then secondly, on our fresh offers, which were in market in 3 locations. So again, those are on track. We have M and M, certainly has been adjusting its volume margin just to make sure that we're continuing to be able to meet the needs of our customers. Speaker 900:32:58Okay, great. That's helpful. And just a follow-up. I see that cruise booking continue to hit new records. This is perhaps a bit of a naive question, but how much visibility do you get into that types of customer demands in the Caribbean as you look at sort of staging fuel supply and that kind of thing in the future is do you get a good read into those customer bookings and what kind of demand you expect through the balance of the year? Speaker 500:33:21Yes. No, we do see we do continue to see robust demand in those markets and we do monitor customer bookings, which remain throughout the region. Speaker 900:33:34Okay, very helpful. Thanks. Operator00:33:38Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Neil Mehta from Goldman Sachs. Go ahead, please. Speaker 800:33:45All right. Can you guys hear me? Speaker 500:33:48Yes. Yes, Neil. Speaker 800:33:49Okay. Sorry about that. First question is just on the crude markets. There's been a lot of volatility in Western Canada. As you bring Burnaby online, do you see commercial opportunities around this? Speaker 800:34:03And then just your thoughts on what TMX means for both crude and product markets for Western Canada? Speaker 500:34:11Yes. No, they're good questions. I mean, look, we're not sensitive really to the price of crude. It's the spreads and spreads remain constructive, particularly to the light crudes, which we use in the Burnaby refinery. So we've seen that environment stay consistent. Speaker 500:34:30And don't expect it to change here going forward. TMX, interesting mainly bringing heavy capacity online. And our analysis would show that it will have little to no impact on the light spread. So we don't expect to see a significant impact there. And on the product side, I mean, Vancouver is currently supplied by Burnaby or primarily out of Edmonton. Speaker 500:35:06And so that product is already in the market. So we don't expect that to create any changes in terms of the crude the product supply and availability in that market? Speaker 300:35:18Yes, Anil, we are active shippers on the pipeline. And of course, with our own crude being there, there's always opportunities to optimize as the markets move and that's an active program that's ongoing. And so when Bob earlier referred to kind of higher capture, part of that higher capture comes from optimizing those positions that we have in the market. And so generally volatility is good. Speaker 800:35:42Yes. And both did you get talked about this, you've made a lot of progress around deleveraging and part of that's been the asset sale market. So I just love your perspective on, is there room for further asset monetization? And as we think about M and A, is it fair to say that Parkland at this point is digesting a lot of the M and A that is done as opposed to being active in the acquisition market this year? Thank you. Speaker 500:36:11Yes. So our deleveraging has primarily come from cash flow from the enterprise. So it hasn't been materially boosted by divestitures at this point. We'll see that more in 2024 and 2025 as we continue to work through the pipeline of opportunities. And yes, M and A, look, we're still in a mode here where we're integrating. Speaker 500:36:37And as we talked about in our Investor Day, our first priority right now is to get the benefits we can internally out of the business, focusing on organic growth and synergy capture of which there's still opportunity and it's a core part of our plan to grow the business from $2,000,000,000 to $2,500,000,000 of EBITDA without M and A. Speaker 800:37:04Thanks, Bob. Operator00:37:08Thank you. This concludes our question and answer session. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today.Read morePowered by