Murphy USA, the El Dorado gasoline and convenience store chain, reported a fourth-quarter 2018 profit of $77.5 million, or $2.38 per diluted share, down from the $124.8 million in same quarter of 2017, when the company enjoyed a deferred tax benefit of nearly $89 million after the passage of the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act.
For the full year, net income was $213.6 million, or $6.87 per diluted share, down from $245.3 in 2017. Income for 2018 included a $35 million after-tax settlement on damages from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Same-store fuel sales and total retail gallons were up, and the company opened 11 new stores in the quarter, as well as completing 15 raze-and-rebuild projects. For the full year, 26 new stores were opened.
“We finished 2018 strong, as a favorable fourth quarter fuel margin environment resulted in $411.8 million of annual adjusted EBITDA, just below the midpoint of our guidance,” President and CEO Andrew Clyde said in a statement. “We drove traffic to our stores in the fourth quarter, growing per-store volumes and generating the second-strongest fourth-quarter fuel contribution since our 2013 spinoff [from Murphy Oil Corp.] Merchandise capped off an outstanding year, contributing over $400 million of margin in 2018 with line of sight to further improvement in 2019.”
Clyde said the company is in the early stages of several major initiatives, “including the national launch of our Murphy Drive Rewards loyalty program early in the next quarter.”
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