05:30 PM EDT, 03/20/2024 (MT Newswires) -- (Refiles to clean up headline.)

Alimentation Couche-Tard ( ANCTF ) on Wednesday said its fiscal third-quarter adjusted profit fell 16%, missing expectations, on lower US fuel margins and weaker traffic into its stores.

The global gas-stop and convenience-store operator said its adjusted profit, which excludes most one-time items, fell to US$625 million, or US$0.65 per share, in the quarter ended Feb.4, down from US$741 million, or US$0.74, in the year-prior period. The The result was well below the consensus analyst estimate for the measure for an adjusted profit per share of US$0.84, according to Capital IQ.

Net income, including items, fell 15% to US$623.4 million, or US$0.65, from US$737.4 million, or US$0.73.

The "decrease is primarily driven by lower road transportation fuel gross margin in the United States and softness in traffic as a portion of our customers remains impacted by challenging economic conditions", the company noted.

Revenue fell 2.2% to US$19.62 billion from US$20.06 billion.

The result includes a month of contributions from the company's US$3.8 billion acquisition of 2,175 European convenience stops from TotalEnergies (TTE), which closed on Jan,3.

"We are pleased this quarter with the significant growth of our network. In January, we closed on the acquisition of certain European retail assets from TotalEnergies, and welcomed four new countries, nearly 22,000 team members, and 2,175 sites into the Couche-Tard family. We have a strong track record of successful integrations and realization of synergies and are pleased of how the transition is progressing," chief executive Brian Hannasch said in a release.

Couche-Tarde shares closed down C$0.84 to C$81.52 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.