Alimentation Couche-Tard CEO optimistic despite rising fuel costs straining customers

A man passes by a Couche Tard convenience store in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes.

Higher gas prices may be rattling consumers, but the head of convenience store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. isn’t worried about it causing a dramatic hit to his business.

Historically, when fuel has become more expensive, the amount of gas the average customer purchases at one time has fallen, but that doesn’t mean higher gas prices are destructive for demand, CEO Alex Miller said Wednesday.

“It actually drives additional trips to our sites,” he told analysts on a call.

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Miller reasons that’s because many consumers have no choice but to fill up their gas tanks, even when it gets more costly to do so.

Gas prices cracked the $2-per-litre mark in some Canadian markets this week as the war in the Middle East continued, hampering the supply and driving up the price of fuel at gas stations, including those under Miller’s Couche-Tard and Circle K banners.

Dramatic gas price increases put “additional stress on consumers that are already stretched and have (only) so much money to spend,” but don’t usually hinder in-store traffic or performance at his stores, Miller said.

“We don’t see those correlations in our data and I can tell you thus far during this event, our in-store and our merch is performing quite well,” he said.

The company has stretched its sales considerably in the last few years by introducing an expansive array of food options and promotional meal deals and growing the energy drink segment of the business.

Miller’s remarks came a day after Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. revealed its third-quarter net earnings attributable to shareholders ticked up by more than 17 per cent from a year earlier to US$757.2 million.

Revenue at the Laval, Que.-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, was up more than four per cent to US$21.8 billion over the same period.

Alimentation Couche-Tard said the increase came mostly from translating the firm’s European operations into U.S. dollars, as well as acquisitions, organic growth and high revenues in its wholesale fuel business.

During its third quarter, the business acquired 12 company-operated stores.

Its revenue was partly offset by a lower average road transportation fuel selling price and regulatory divestitures related to its purchase of GetGo Cafe stores from supermarket retailer Giant Eagle Inc.

The GetGo deal, which was announced in 2024, was overshadowed by Alimentation Couche-Tard’s pursuit of 7-Eleven-owner Seven & i Holdings Co. Ltd.

Couche-Tard pulled its proposal to buy the Japanese rival last July after trying to broker an agreement for nearly a year.

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On Wednesday, analysts pointed out Couche-Tard beat 7-Eleven in its third quarter on several fronts, including U.S. merchandise same-store-sales and American fuel volumes. In fact, Stifel’s Martin Landry told investors Couche-Tard’s U.S. fuel volumes were so good it marked the company’s best performance in the last six quarters.

Meanwhile, Miller indicated the failed 7-Eleven courtship hadn’t scared him off hunting for future acquisitions.

“There remains a lot of deal flow, a lot of deal activity and we are highly engaged in that,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2026.

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press