HOUSTON – Related to Energy Transfer Partners’ (ETP) dropdown of 100% of Susser Holdings Corp. to Sunoco LP for approximately $1.934 billion, Sunoco LP said that it has priced its registered underwritten public offering of 5.5 million common units representing limited partner interests, pursuant to an effective statement filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), at $40.10 per common unit.

It expects the offering to close on or about July 21, 2015.

The partnership granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 825,000 additional common units.

It intends to use the net proceeds from the offering, and from the underwriters’ exercise of their option to purchase additional common units, if applicable, to repay borrowings outstanding under its revolving credit facility and for general partnership purposes.

And the partnership intends to use borrowings under its revolving credit facility, along with the net proceeds from the concurrent private placement of $600 million of aggregate principal amount of senior notes due 2020, to help fund the cash consideration in its pending acquisition of 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Susser Holdings.

Sunoco LP also has announced that it has priced at 100% an upsized private offering of $600 million in aggregate principal amount of 5.5% senior notes due 2020.

This represents a $100-million increase in the original offering amount announced earlier in the day.

Sunoco Finance Corp., a wholly owned direct subsidiary of Sunoco, will serve as co-issuer of the notes. The company expects the sale of the notes to settle on July 20, 2015, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Net proceed are expected to total $592.5 million.

Sunoco intends to use the net proceeds from the offering, together with borrowings under its revolving credit facility, to help fund the cash consideration for its acquisition of 100% of Susser Holdings.

DALLAS & HOUSTON — “Driven by the desire to accelerate Sunoco LP‘s exposure to the fast-growing retail business with its exciting backlog of organic growth opportunities and strong EBITDA performance,” Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) announced that it is selling 100% of Susser Holdings Corp. to Sunoco LP for approximately $1.934 billion.

Sunoco LP is majority owned and managed by ETP, which also owns Sunoco Inc. and Stripes LLC. Previously, ETP has indicated that it planned to bring Sunoco Inc. and Stripes LLC together under Sunoco LP (formerly Susser Petroleum Partners LP) through asset dropdowns from ETP to Sunoco LP.

ETP owns the general partner, 100% of the incentive distribution rights (IDRs), or share of cash flow, and approximately 44% of the limited-partner interests in Sunoco LP, as well as 100% of Sunoco Inc. and 100% of Susser Holdings Corp. (acquired in August 2014), making the sale a “dropdown.”

The size of this transaction reflects the “structural simplicity” of a single drop of a corporate entity into Sunoco LP and ultimately its wholly owned corporate subsidiary, Susser Petroleum Property Co. LLC.

For Sunoco LP, the addition of significant size and scale will deliver new organic growth opportunities and enhance its ability to focus on a broad range of third-party acquisition opportunities, ETP said.

For the dropdown, as reported in a 21st Century Smoke/CSP Daily News Flash, Sunoco LP will pay ETP approximately $970 million in cash and issue approximately 22 million Sunoco LP units valued at approximately $970 million.

The companies expect the transaction to close on August 1, subject to customary conditions.

Sunoco Inc., Philadelphia, markets motor fuels through more than 4,900 Sunoco-branded gas stations and convenience stores in 26 states, mainly east of the Mississippi, from Maine to Florida and west to Wisconsin and Louisiana. This includes more than 430 company-operated locations, along with more than 4,000 independently owned and operated dealers and distributors. It also has more than 650 APlus branded c-stores that are company-operated and operated by third-party dealers.

Stripes LLC, Corpus Christi, Texas, currently operates more than 645 c-stores in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma under the Stripes and Sac-N-Pac brands.

Continued on next page.

Simultaneously with this transaction, ETP and Energy Transfer Equity (ETE)–which owns the general partner and 100% of the IDRs of ETP–have announced a transaction in which ETP will transfer the general partner (GP) interest and IDRs of Sunoco LP to ETE in exchange for 21 million ETP units held by ETE. The transaction represents a current value of approximately $1.2 billion.

Following this transaction, Sunoco LP will no longer be consolidated for accounting purposes by ETP, but instead will appear in the consolidated financial statements for ETE.

“These transactions are a strong endorsement by ETE and ETP of Sunoco LP’s current and future success and a validation of its business strategy and model,” ETP said.

Sunoco LP, Houston, is a master limited partnership (MLP) that distributes motor fuel to convenience stores, independent dealers, commercial customers and distributors. It also operates more than 150 c-stores and gas stations. It conducts its business through wholly owned subsidiaries, as well as through its 31.58% interest in Sunoco LLC, in partnership with an affiliate of ETP.

Energy Transfer Partners LP, Dallas, is an MLP that owns the general partner, 100% of the IDRs and approximately 67.1 million common units in Sunoco Logistics Partners LP, which operates a geographically diverse portfolio of crude oil and refined products pipelines, terminalling and crude oil acquisition and marketing assets. ETP owns 100% of Sunoco Inc. and 100% of Susser Holdings. Also, ETP owns the general partner, 100% of the IDRs and approximately 44% of the limited partner interests in Sunoco LP (formerly Susser Petroleum Partners LP), a wholesale fuel distributor and c-store operator.

While primarily engaged in natural gas, natural gas liquids, crude oil and refined products transportation, ETP also operates a retail business through its interest in Sunoco LLC, as well as wholly owned subsidiaries, Sunoco Inc. and Stripes LLC, which operate approximately 1,100 c-stores and gas stations.

CHICAGO — With half of 2015 gone, Technomic research experts have taken stock of the market forces and menu trends emerging in the foodservice industry. Overall, consumers are filling restaurant tables at pre-recession levels; however, some dining habits that emerged during that belt-tightening period continue to influence how consumers dine out in 2015 and beyond.

“Midscale dining is doing better, but must keep reinventing and innovating to continue this path,” said Joe Pawlak, senior vice president at Technomic. “Fine dining has bounced back. Meanwhile, limited-service restaurants, especially fast-casual concepts, continue to bite into the casual-dining market, although there is market improvement in this sector.”

Technomic’s experts traveled to some of the nation’s noted restaurant cities and conducted first-hand research, interviews and surveys among operators, chefs and consumers. They combined their findings with qualitative data from Technomic’s Digital Resource Library and quantitative data from MenuMonitor database and Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report. They pinpointed six key trends:

1. Fast casual not slowing down. This segment continues to outpace all others, growing at 11%, compared to 4% among quick-service restaurants (QSRs) and 5.6% growth in casual dining.

2. ‘Build your own’ keeps building. Within the fast-casual segment, concepts built around customization are growing twice as fast as those that are not.

3. Cult status. Quick-service restaurants that are doing well—Chick-fil-A and Culver’s, to name a few—have developed clearly defined niches, achieved cult-like followings and garner higher check averages.

4. Subtracting the additives. Consumers are demanding to know the backstories on ingredient sourcing and processing; operators are responding with increased menu transparency.

5. Tech becomes necessary. Online ordering, mobile apps and table tablets fulfill two needs: appealing to millennials’ high-tech and high-speed preferences and supplementing service in a tight labor markets.

6. The new foodie norm. Food blogs, foodie media and foodservice everywhere mean everyone’s a culinary expert; dining needs to be an Instagram-worthy experience.

Chicago-based Technomic provides consumer-grounded research and consulting for food manufacturers and distributors, restaurants and retailers, other foodservice organizations and various institutions aligned with the food industry.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — VideoMining Corp., a leading provider of in-store behavior analytics, has announced the development of a new sensing platform called OmniSensr for retail environments. The integrated hardware package combines video, Wi-Fi and beacon technologies.

The new sensing platform is optimized specifically for anonymous shopper tracking and generation of deep behavior analytics–from store-wide tracking to detailed shelf-level interactions with demographic segmentation. All processing is carried out on-board in real time, eliminating the need for large, elaborate hardware in stores. Retailers can deploy the resulting solution in a scalable way in stores of any format.

Employing an Internet-of-Things (IoT) architecture, the sensor’s outputs can be seamlessly integrated in a cloud environment with transaction data and other data sources (store map, product layout, promotions and more). Key advantages include the ability to provide repeat visitor analytics, more robust store-wide tracking compared to any single-technology-based approach, trip-type analysis and brand-level behavior analysis.

In addition to delivering a variety of shopper behavior analytics, the technology enables mobile location-based marketing solutions. This provides retailers and manufacturers with the ability to serve targeted content to shoppers at the point of decision in the form of promotions and relevant product information.

“VideoMining is committed to bringing the very best technology to the market. This development is another demonstration of our leadership in shopper analytics,” said Dr. Rajeev Sharma, founder and CEO of VideoMining. “We are very excited by the new applications enabled by our OmniSensr and look forward to working with our retail partners to roll out this powerful new sensing platform.”

Large-scale deployments start this fall, the State College, Pa.-based company said.

VideoMining employs patented software to convert in-store video into an understanding of shopper behavior and demographics, integrating those learnings with other key data sources to deliver comprehensive, actionable shopper behavior insights. Its Platform for Retail Optimization provides consumer product manufacturers and retailers the ability to measure shopper response at each retail touch point with automated in-store behavior analytics.

PLANO, Texas — Four of America’s favorite local dishes are about to take center stage in the potato chip aisle. Out of millions of submissions from fans across America, Lay’s has announced the four finalist flavors competing for a $1 million grand prize in the Lay’s “Do Us A Flavor” contest: Lay’s Wavy West Coast Truffle Fries, Lay’s Southern Biscuits & Gravy, Lay’s New York Reuben and Lay’s Kettle Cooked Greektown Gyro flavored potato chips.

Representing four of the most flavorful cities and towns across the country, these four finalist flavors are set to make their debut on store shelves nationwide later this month with consumer votes determining the grand prize winner.

In alphabetical order by last name, the finalists are:

*Lay’s Wavy West Coast Truffle Fries: Angie Fu, from Irvine, Calif., has had a passion for food and discovering local flavors from an early age. She very nearly went into culinary school, but instead opted to keep her love of flavor a hobby. When Angie is home, she is constantly in her kitchen, trying her hand at new dishes and sauces. But when Angie goes out to eat, she can’t say no to truffle fries, even seeking out restaurants in the area that put their own local twist on her favorite side.

*Lay’s Southern Biscuits & Gravy: As a travel agent from Noblesville, Ind., Hailey Green has many opportunities to sample local flavors when exploring a new city. She has a great appreciation for each locale’s “homemade style,” because it reminds her of her own childhood, filled with memories of eating southern food in her grandmother’s kitchen. One of Hailey’s favorite dishes is biscuits and gravy—a recipe that was handed down in her family generation after generation.

*Lay’s New York Reuben: Jeff Solensky helps manage a local restaurant in DuBois, Penn., where he pursues his true passion in life—food. Growing up in Long Island, N.Y., Jeff has fond memories of traveling into Manhattan to enjoy Broadway shows with his mother. A big part of that tradition was stopping by popular New York delis beforehand to enjoy a Reuben. *Lay’s Kettle Cooked Greektown Gyro: James Wagner has been in the Air Force for more than 18 years, traveling the country and abroad and discovering local tastes at each stop on his journey. While abroad, James discovered his fondness for Greek cuisine, so when he moved to Wichita Falls, Texas, he immediately sought out the closest gyro restaurant. 

The four finalists learned they were contest finalists when TV personality and recording artist Nick Lachey surprised them at their doorsteps with the news.

From July 27 through October 18, consumers can vote once per day per person, device and platform for their favorite finalist flavor on www.DoUsAFlavor.com; via Twitter and Instagram using the hashtags #VoteTruffleFries, #VoteBiscuits, #VoteReuben, or #VoteGyro; and/or via text message by texting “VoteTruffleFries,” “VoteBiscuits,” “VoteReuben,” or “VoteGyro” to 24477 (CHIPS).

Lay’s will reveal the winning flavor this October, and it will remain on store shelves following the completion of the contest.

In July 2012, the Lay’s brand launched its first “Do Us A Flavor” contest in the United States, which resulted in Lay’s Cheesy Garlic Bread submitted by Karen Weber-Mendham, a children’s librarian from Land O’Lakes, Wis., being selected as the first million-dollar winner. The contest returned for a second time in January 2014 with Lay’s Kettle Cooked Wasabi Ginger, submitted by Meneko Spigner McBeth of Deptford, N.J., crowned the winner.

As part of this year’s contest, a judging panel made up of chefs, foodies and flavor experts narrowed down the contest submissions to four finalist flavors. The three runner-up finalists will each win $50,000 in prize money, with the grand prize winner taking home $1 million or 1% of their flavor’s net sales through July 15, 2016 (whichever is higher).

Lay’s is one of the billion-dollar brands that makes up Plano, Texas-based Frito-Lay North America, the $14 billion convenient foods business unit of PepsiCo Inc., Purchase, N.Y. PepsiCo generated more than $66 billion in net revenue in 2014, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana.

More details and official contest rules are available at www.DoUsAFlavor.com.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — More than half of fuel consumers are feeling pessimistic about the economy, at a time when gas prices are 80 cents per gallon (CPG) lower than a year ago.

That’s the surprise finding in the latest fuel consumer survey from the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) that gauges the effect of gas prices on consumer sentiment.

Economic optimism fell five points between the June and July surveys, with 47% of fuel consumers feeling “somewhat” or “very” optimistic. The slim majority—40%—were “somewhat” pessimistic, while another 13% were “very” pessimistic.

As NACS points out, this decline is especially unexpected because optimism typically grows during the summer. Consider that in July 2014, consumer optimism rose seven points to hit 46%, even though gas prices were 80 CPG higher than today.

Of concern for retailers: 26% of consumers planned to cut their spending on items other than fuel in the upcoming month, a record high for the question since it was first added to the monthly survey in September 2014. Another 14% said they would spend more, while 60% would keep their spending the same.

Younger consumers—those between the ages of 18 and 34—were more optimistic than the average, with 57% feeling good about the economy; however, one in four also said they would spend less on items other than fuel in July.

“While gas prices remain relatively low, we may be seeing consumer frustration because prices aren’t falling over the summer months,” said Jeff Lenard, vice president of strategic industry initiatives at NACS. “Add to the mix consumers saying they will change behavior—and feel pain—at lower price points, and we may see pessimism linger, which could affect third-quarter sales.”

Consumers surveyed by NACS reported a median price of $2.79 per gallon in July, or a 4-CPG increase from the month prior; however, gas prices have stayed below the $3.00-per-gallon benchmark since November 2014. 

When asked what price gasoline would need to hit before reducing driving, consumers chose a mean of $3.65 per gallon. NACS said this was actually the average price per gallon in July 2014, when consumers said they would drive less if prices hit $4.19 per gallon.

Only 28% of consumers said gas prices have a “great” effect on their economic sentiment. This compares to the 41% who felt so the same time a year ago.  

Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates LLC conducted the survey for NACS with 1,101 gas consumers from July 1-6, 2015.

For a summary of results, click here.

ATLANTA — InComm, a leading prepaid product and transaction services company, has announced the addition of new brands to the InComm Incentives e-commerce site for bulk gift and reward card purchases, including vacation brands as well as the Vanilla Visa Reward Card.

The expanded offering gives companies a greater variety of choices for rewarding customers and employees with gift and reward cards to use during the summer travel season.

“From outdoor brands to entertainment companies, from lodging to travel, there’s something to reward everyone for every type of getaway,” said Vicki Ravenel, director of InComm Incentives. “The growing variety of options as well as our extremely popular Vanilla Visa Reward Card makes InComm Incentives a premier e-commerce site for companies looking to incentivize those who drive their business.”

InComm Incentives takes the stress out of planning and executing rewards and promotions with a B2B e-commerce portal. The site offers a variety of brands to choose from and a seamless platform for ordering. These attributes immediately empower companies with the ability to launch promotions or reward employees faster than ever by leveraging one of the most in-demand incentives around: gift and reward cards.

“Recent research has shown that more consumers than ever are turning to prepaid products for personal use and as a convenient way to manage money,” Ravenel said. “For travelers, prepaid cards are a great way to stay within a vacation budget while also increasing security. While lost debit or credit cards can turn a pleasant trip into a stressful nightmare, using reward and gift cards while on vacation can prevent exposure to personal financial information.”

The InComm Incentives e-commerce store offers access to gift cards from more than 100 brands in variable denominations with more brands added regularly. Companies can purchase many brands in both physical and digital format to target a variety of consumers.

Leveraging deep integrations into retailers’ point-of-sale (POS) systems, InComm provides connectivity to a variety of service providers that allow consumers to conduct everyday business at more than 450,000 points of retail distribution worldwide. Whether those consumers are activating prepaid products, paying bills, enjoying real-time discounts through a membership card, purchasing digital goods in-store or adding funds to an online account, InComm can provide gift-gifting opportunities, cater to on-the-go shoppers, deliver added value through loyalty programs and serve cash-based consumers.

With 186 global patents, InComm is based in Atlanta with a presence in more than 30 countries.

MINNEAPOLIS — Yesterday, two Massachusetts state legislative committees held hearings on bills to raise the state’s minimum age to purchase and use tobacco products from 18 years old to 21 years old. This focus on a statewide legal age of 21 in Massachusetts follows recent news from Hawaii, which became the first state to enact an age 21 law on tobacco products.

While Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey and Utah already have laws setting the legal age to buy and use tobacco at 19 years old, other states with legal age bills still pending include California (age 21), Massachusetts (age 21), New Jersey (age 21), New York (age 21), Vermont (age 21) and Washington (age 19). Several other states had legal age bills fail due to adjournment of the legislature including Iowa (age 19), Oregon (age 21), Rhode Island (age 21), Texas (age 19) and Utah (age 21).

When a legislative bill is proposed to raise the legal age to purchase and use tobacco products, the rationale tends to focus on the public health. However, a convincing argument can be made that personal liberties of all adults need to be considered when this kind of legislation is being debated. Personal rights are important because government and society impose responsibilities and duties on those who have reached the age of 18, and the magnitude of these obligations should also allow a person of adult age to choose what legal products they desire to purchase.

Some of these serious responsibilities and duties borne by adults who are 18, 19 and 20 years old include voting, military service, marriage, divorce, payment of income taxes, health insurance mandates, health directive decisions, candidacy for public office, and prosecution as an adult for crimes committed. 

If the proponents of legislation to raise the legal age to buy and use tobacco products truly believe that raising the legal age will reduce underage use of tobacco products, the national minimum age of 21 to purchase and consume alcohol provides an important and analogous situation. 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) conducts two surveys, the National Youth Tobacco Survey and the Youth Risk Behavior Survey.  These two surveys show cigarette smoking nationwide among high school students has decreased significantly from 15.8% in 2011 to 9.2% in 2014 while drinking alcohol among high school students is currently at 34.9%.  In other words, four times as many high school students drink alcohol as opposed to smoke cigarettes even though the legal age to purchase and consume alcohol is 21.  

From this CDC data, a conclusion can be drawn that mandating an age of 21 for the purchase and consumption of alcohol has not created an impediment for more than one-third of minors who are currently consuming alcohol. This brings into question the true efficacy of a similar increase in the age of tobacco and raises the more serious health-related question of whether such a change in age of purchase could actually result in an increase in underage tobacco use as minors, in addition to adults who are 18, 19 and 20 years old, look to other sources for acquiring tobacco products.  

These other sources are known as “social sources” and a study released by the Journal of School Health in August 2014 found that 86% of underage youth obtain cigarettes from non-retail sources, such as older friends, siblings, parents, and strangers. Raising the legal age to 21 may only cause those underage youth and then 18-, 19- and 20-year-old adults to either continue to rely on these social sources or to seek out social sources in order to obtain tobacco products.

When lawmakers consider raising the legal age to buy and use tobacco products, the potential health-related consequences of a higher legal age need to be taken into account and whether such action will have the opposite affect on underage use as the CDC statistics on under age alcohol consumption indicate.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Back in April, a TPSAC (Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee) panel voted against Swedish Match AB’s application to market its General Snus brand as less harmful than cigarettes and unanimously rejected the company’s request to remove the required tooth loss and gum disease warnings (read the full story here).

The decision was considered by many to mark the death of Swedish Match’s modified-risk tobacco product (MRTP) application, a notion Jim Solyst, Swedish Match’s vice president of federal regulatory affairs, vehemently denies.

“If the decision had been made, we wouldn’t still be hearing from CTP,” he said, pointing out that he’s had multiple calls with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) since the TPSAC meeting. “We’re continuing on with the process.”

In an exclusive interview with CSP/Tobacco E-News, Solyst shared his experience at the TPSAC meeting and how the company is moving forward on modified risk.

On the Panel’s Understanding of Snus:

“I was disappointed that, on the first day, the committee did not seem to understand the unique features of General Snus,” said Solyst. “There is an abundance of human health evidence, and it is manufactured following the GOTHIATEK standard (Swedish Match’s internal quality standards).”

Solyst believes the committee ultimately understood more about the product (particularly after a second day presentation on GOTHIATEK); however, many TPSAC members were not swayed by the evidence presented in support of snus.

On Positive Aspects of the Experience:

“I would not say it was all doom and gloom,” Solyst said of the meeting, despite the panel’s decision. “It was a good communication opportunity. I think TPSAC did have a better understanding of our product at the end of the two days than at the beginning [and] I’d say both Swedish Match and CTP have learned quite a bit.”

Another major benefit for Swedish Match: positive attention for its pioneering efforts.

“At the end of the TPSAC meeting, (CTP director) Mitch Zeller referred to us as ‘trailblazers,’ ” he said, adding that it’s a term the CTP has used frequently when describing Swedish Match.

On What’s Next

At this year’s NATO Show, Zeller was quick to point out that “federal committees like TPSAC serve an advisory function; they are not the decision makers,” a fact Solyst brings up when people equate the TPSAC ruling to a final decision from the FDA.

“It’s certainly not unusual for an FDA center to not take the advice of an advisory committee,” he said. “There are many precedents.”

As such, Solyst remains hopeful that the CTP will ultimately approve some, if not all, of the requests in the MRTP application.

“One option would be that CTP gives us the MRTP order, but not give us all of the warning-label changes,” said Solyst. “That’s still a very positive development. They can’t give us the MRTP order unless we’ve demonstrated that (snus) reduces individual risk and it benefits the health of the overall population. That’s a significant statement.”

LAVAL, Quebec — For its fourth quarter ended April 26, 2015, convenience-store company Alimentation Couche‑Tard Inc. has announced net earnings of $129.5 million, a 10.8% decline over last year’s $145.1 million. Non‑recurring restructuring and integration costs of $22.2 million in connection with the acquisition of The Pantry Inc. c-store chain and a $600,000 additional loss on disposal of its aviation fuel business, among other factors, affected the results.

Excluding non‑recurring items for both comparable periods, net earnings for the quarter would have been approximately $142 million compared with $123 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, an increase of 15.4%.

This increase is attributable to continued organic growth and higher fuel margins as well as to the contribution from acquisitions.

Couche-Tard closed on the acquisition of The Pantry on March 16, 2015, through an all‑cash transaction with a total enterprise value of approximately $1.7 billion including debt assumed. Results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2015 include The Pantry’s results for a period of 41 days, including non‑recurring integration costs of approximately $22 million.

Click here for full coverage.

“Our performance in the fourth quarter was a great way to end an exceptional fiscal year. It allowed us to begin fiscal year 2016 with the momentum needed to achieve the ambitious goals we have set for ourselves” said Brian Hannasch, president and CEO. “In all our markets, we recorded strong organic growth while maintaining our solid profit margins, confirming the sustainability of our strategies. … In the U.S., we have experienced our strongest growth since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008.”

Raymond Paré, vice president and CFO, said, “We are very proud of our fourth-quarter results, but even prouder of our ability to demonstrate strong, sustained growth, quarter after quarter, year after year. Even after the acquisition of The Pantry, our financial position remains strong.”

Net earnings amounted to $933.5 million for fiscal 2015, compared with $812.2 million for the previous fiscal year. Excluding the same items and acquisition costs from both periods, fiscal 2015 net earnings would have been approximately $1.022 billion compared with $766 million for fiscal 2014, an increase of 33.4%.

For the quarter, Couche-Tard reported that same‑store merchandise revenues were up 5.2% in the United States, 3% in Europe and 3.8% in Canada. Same‑store merchandise revenues in the United States include The Pantry’s results from the acquisition date.

Merchandise and service gross margin stood at 33.4% in the United States, at 42.1% in Europe and at 32.5% in Canada, for a consolidated margin of 34.1%.

Same‑store road transportation fuel volumes grew by 6.4% in the United States, 3.7% in Europe and 1.5% in Canada. Same‑store road transportation fuel volume in the United States includes The Pantry’s results from the acquisition date.

Road transportation fuel gross margin was 15.46 cents per gallon in the United States, at 8.55 cents per liter (U.S.) in Europe and at 6.18 cents per liter (Canadian) in Canada.

Laval, Quebec-based Couche-Tard operates a network of more than 6,300 convenience stores throughout North America (more than 7,800 including The Pantry). Its North American network consists of 13 business units, including nine in the United States (under the Circle K brand) in 40 states and four business units in Canada (under the Mac’s and Couche-Tard brands) covering all 10 provinces.

In Europe, Couche-Tard operates a broad retail network across Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden and Denmark), Poland, the Baltics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and Russia, with approximately 2,250 stores–the Statoil Fuel & Retail network it acquired in 2012.

Also, under licensing agreements, about 4,600 stores are operated under the Circle K banner in 12 other countries (China, Guam, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Vietnam and United Arab Emirates), which brings to more than 13,100 the number of sites in Couche-Tard’s network.