05:37 PM EDT, 03/18/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Alimentation Couche-Tard ( ANCTF ) , on Tuesday offered no additional on its attempts to acquire Japan's Seven & i Holdings, owner of the 7/Eleven convenience chain as it said its fiscal third-quarter profit rose 3.3% and topped estimates.

The a global gas-stop and convenience operator mostly stuck to discussing its earnings for the quarter ended Feb.2, reporting earnings attributable to shareholders rose to US$641.4 million, or US$0.68 per share, compared with US$623.4 million, or US$0.65. Adjusted earnings attributable to shareholders, excluding most one-time items, rose to $641.0 million, or US$0.68, from $625.0 million, or US$0.65, and beat the FactSet consensus estimate for the measure of US$0.66 per share.

Revenue rose to US$20.9 billion, up by $1.3 billion, or 6.5%, mainly attributable to the contribution from acquisitions and higher revenues in our wholesale fuel business, partly offset by a lower average road transportation fuel selling price, softness in fuel demand and traffic impacted by unusual winter conditions in the United States, as well as a negative impact of approximately US$212.0 million from it foreign currency holding.

It missed a FactSet revenue forecast of US$21,094.8 million in revenues.

Bloomberg last week cited Couche-Tard as saying that it has financing in place for a Seven & i Holdings acquistion and sees a clear path to gaining antitrust regulatory approval in the United States. It would be the largest foreign takeover in Japanese history were it to go ahead, and Couche-Tard didn't provide any major update on its prospects on this occasion.

"While consumers continue to be cautious in their spending, we are seeing encouraging signs of resilience," Chief executive Alex Miller said. "Same-store sales were positive in both Canada and Europe compared to the same quarter last year, and we had sequential improvement in the United States, impacted by historic winter storms in our southern business units."

"We delivered notable progress this quarter, delivering our most improved performance in over a year as we continue to navigate challenging consumer trends, particularly in the United States. Our results reflect a balanced mix of organic growth and acquisitions, demonstrating the strength of our globally diversified network, the success of our integration activities and our commitment to drive long-term sustainable growth. This quarter also marks the one-year anniversary of the acquisition of certain assets from TotalEnergies, which is on track for synergy realization and continues to deliver solid results thanks to the dedicated efforts of all of our team members," Filipe Da Silva, Chief Financial Officer, added.

Couche-Tard shares closed down $1.45, or 2.1%, to $66.54 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.