Sunoco LP Touts 'Dominant' National Footprint

DALLAS — Sunoco LP has a "dominant national footprint" with more than 6,500 convenience stores and gas stations, the company said Tuesday during parent company Energy Transfer Partners LP's analyst meeting here.

Once its pending acquisition of Aloha Petroleum Ltd. is completed, Sunoco LP will have 6,595 locations across 30 states from Maine to Hawaii — 1,237 of which will be company owned and 5,358 of which will be dealer and distributor operated.

In addition to Aloha, the Sunoco LP network is made up of Stripes LLC, Tiger Mart, Sac-N-Pac and Sunoco locations and will become "one of the largest and most diversified fuel distribution and marketing platforms in the United States," the company noted during its presentation.

These figures assume the dropdown of Energy Transfer Partners' Susser Holdings Corp. and Sunoco Inc. retail businesses to Sunoco LP. The master limited partnership has already publicly announced its intent to make these moves.

Sunoco LP told analysts the c-store industry should be strong in the future, as 2013 marked the 11th consecutive year of industry-wide merchandise growth with $700 billion in sales. Susser's Stripes business has bested this figure by achieving more than 25 years of same-store merchandise growth.

"Increasing demand for convenience and improved foodservice offerings continue to drive merchandise sales growth and profitability," Sunoco LP noted.

Average per-store merchandise sales were $1.637 million for the combined Stripes and Sunoco Inc. retail business in 2013. According to the presentation, this outpaced per-store merchandise sales seen at The Pantry Inc., parent of Kangaroo Express; Casey's General Stores Inc.; and CST Brands Inc., parent to Corner Store.

Dallas-based Sunoco LP also noted it is "delivering best-in-class volume growth," with per-store average fuel gallon sales reaching $1.911 million, which it said also bests The Pantry, Casey's and CST Brands.

Sunoco LP's presentation concluded that its retail synergies will exceed $70 million annually with a single management team running the combined retail business. The company has set integration plan milestones, which it expects to begin executing in the first quarter of 2015.