Dive Brief:
- Convenience and fuel retailer Global Partners is eyeing a potential acquisition after a quarter in which its operating profitability skyrocketed, President and CEO Eric Slifka said during the company’s first-quarter earnings call last week.
- Global Partners’ adjusted EBITDA during the quarter surpassed $91 million, a gain of over 60% from the $56 million it reached during the same period last year, according to its earnings report. While the primary driver was a strong performance from its wholesale segment, Slifka said Global Partners will now focus on M&A in both its retail and fuel segments to stay competitive.
- Although the c-store M&A landscape remains hot, Global Partners — which has about 300 company-operated c-stores under several banners, mainly on the East Coast — hasn’t made a retail-focused acquisition since early 2023.
Dive Insight:
Not only would a retail acquisition be Global Partners’ first such move in two years, it would also mark a shift in the company’s current c-store strategy.
For the past three quarters — beginning in late 2024 — Global Partners has been converting a small number of company-operated c-stores to its wholesale segment as part of a portfolio optimization strategy. This strategy resulted in a $4 million decrease in the company’s station operations segment’s product margin during Q1, according to the company’s earnings report.
Slifka told analysts last week that “selective acquisition opportunities” on both its retail and wholesale fronts will now be a core part of its strategy. He added that Global Partners is “always reviewing” its retail business.
“M&A is busy at every level, whether that's terminal or whether that's retail, and it's really about finding the right deal that fits the company that we think competitively advantages us and allows us to make a somewhat higher return,” Slifka said. “And so those are the places we're going to continue to focus on and try to be competitive.”
Global Partners’ last retail acquisition was of 64 Timewise convenience stores in Houston from Landmark Industries in early 2023. The deal marked the company’s retail expansion into Texas, and those stores have since been rebranded to Global Partners’ Honey Farms banner.
