Casey’s General Store is slowly and cautiously expanding its network of electric vehicle charging stations as it studies consumer demand and advances in technology, Darren Rebelez, the company’s chairman, president and CEO, said Wednesday.

“Demand in our [17-state] footprint just isn’t there quite yet,” Rebelez said. “We’re taking a measured approach in terms of having chargers and being able to understand the consumer dynamic around the charging experience. … We don’t want to get too aggressive on the investment side because we believe that the charging technology will continue to evolve over time, as it has already.”

Rebelez’s comments came during a question-and-answer session with news media after Casey’s leaders announced fourth-quarter and fiscal year earnings results. For the quarter that ended on April 30, Casey’s posted a net profit of $87 million, or $2.34 a share. Net profit for the same period a year ago was $56.1 million, or $1.49 a share.

Total revenue in the fourth quarter was $3.6 billion, an 8.2% increase from the same period a year ago when total revenue was $3.3 billion.

Casey’s fourth-quarter results exceeded analysts’ expectations. Zacks Consensus Estimate, for example, had predicted the convenience store chain would post quarterly earnings of $1.70 a share.

About 40 of Casey’s 2,658 convenience stores have electric charging stations, Rebelez said during the session with news media. In those 40 locations, an average of 330 gasoline fuel transactions occurs daily compared with an average of 13 electric charging sessions a day, he said.

It takes about 35 minutes to charge an electric vehicle to an 80% charge, Rebelez said. “That’s not a real convenient experience [for consumers]. We don’t want to invest a lot of money ahead of that demand curve, and then by the time demand gets there, charging technology that we just spent money on, has changed.”

Company officials will continue to monitor trends in consumers’ use and purchases of electric vehicles, Rebelez said. “I think it’s going to be a much slower evolution than perhaps was being forecasted a couple years ago.”

Rebelez also discussed how Casey’s, which is headquartered in Ankeny, has reduced staff turnover at its stores while increasing both customer and employee satisfaction scores.
“We’re not seeing the same challenges in staffing that we had a couple years ago,” Rebelez said.

Store employees previously were responsible for washing and drying towels, aprons and uniforms used by crews in the company’s kitchens. The job is now outsourced to another company, Rebelez said. Casey’s no longer has to maintain washers and dryers, and employees aren’t spending time doing laundry. The move saved the company about $2 million, he said.

Additionally, Casey’s is using an automated voice assistant system to answer phones and take orders for pizzas, Rebelez said. “On a busy Friday or Saturday, phones [had been] ringing off the hook while the team is trying to make pizzas and keep up with other business in the stores. … [Employees] were having to stop what they were doing to answer the phone. … It slowed them down. [The new system] eliminated that work.”

Highlights from Casey’s earnings report include:

• $1.25 billion in inside same-store sales in the fourth quarter, up 5.6% from the same period a year ago.
• Nearly 695 million gallons of fuel sold. Part of the growth is due to the increase in the number of stores operated by Casey’s. Same-store-gallons sold were up 0.9% compared to a year ago.
• A 16% increase in the quarter dividend, now at 50 cents a share.

During the fiscal year that ended April 30, Casey’s built or acquired 154 stores, boosting its total number of convenience stores to 2,658. The company also began operating in Texas, the 17th state in which it has stores.

Casey’s expects to add at least 100 more stores in the next year through acquisitions and new construction, Rebelez said.

“We believe our two-pronged approach of both building and acquiring stores is a great way to randomly grow the business every year,” Rebelez said during Wednesday’s earnings report.

To read the news release about Casey’s fourth-quarter and fiscal year results, click here.