Look out, marketers: Here comes Speedway

摘要

Weeks before Marathon Petroleum Corp.'s announcement it would buy the Hess chain, large fuel distributors in Florida were griping that Hess and a few other large retailers were undercutting their gasoline prices on the street. However, Hess' conversion to Speedway could create an even more challenging rival. Marathon executives said Speedway's higher merchandise sales and fatter in-store profits could allow it to be a lower-cost operator than Hess. "We have a proven track record for growing EBITDA per store," said Tony Kenney, Speedway president, as Marathon announced the deal. "From 2009 to 2013, Speedway per-store EBITDA has seen a compounded annual growth rate of 10.5% ... this compares favorably to our other convenience store chains we view as comparators."