An Iowa-based convenience store chain Tuesday, reported a record fiscal year. Bill Walljasper, C-F-O of Ankeny-based Casey’s General Stores, says diluted earnings were $4.62 per share in fiscal year 2015, up from $3.62 one year ago. Walljasper said strong fuel sales were one reason for the positive report. “During the fourth quarter, we experienced a favorable fuel environment that caused the margin to rise above our annual goal to 16.9 cents per gallon, compared to 13.1 cents per gallon in the same period a year ago,” Walljasper said.

Motorists who bought gas at Casey’s paid an average of $2.27 a gallon during the company’s fourth quarter. That compared to $3.39 a gallon one year ago. Grocery and merchandise sales in Casey’s stores amounted to $436.6 million in the fourth quarter. “We experienced double-digit total sales growth in nearly every major area of this category, including cigarettes,” Walljasper said.

Casey’s also recorded record earnings in the fourth quarter in the category of prepared food and fountain drinks. “Total sales were up 19.5 percent to $194.7 million for the quarter,” Walljasper said. Casey’s gross profit for the fiscal year that ended April 30th was just over $1.4 billion. The Ankeny-based company is listed 382nd on the most recent Fortune 500 list. That’s up from 389 last year.

Casey’s General Stores will be growing even bigger in the coming year. Bill Walljasper revealed Tuesday that the company plans to build or acquire between 75 and 113 stores in fiscal year 2016. “In addition to these goals, we plan to replace 10 stores and complete 100 major remodels,” Walljasper said. The company currently operates 1,878 stores — mostly around the Midwest. Over the 12 months that ended April 30th, the company acquired 36 stores and opened 45 new stores. Around 100 Casey’s stores will be moved to a 24-hour format in the coming year, according to Walljasper.

“We converted 110 stores to this format in fiscal 2015, bringing our total to about 850 of our stores now open 24-hours,” Walljasper said. In addition to being the 10th largest convenience store chain in the country, Casey’s is the 5th largest pizza chain. In recent years, the company has started offering pizza delivery from stores in larger cities. “Our plan in fiscal 2016 is to convert about 100 more stores to the pizza delivery format,” Walljasper said. “We typically experience a 25-to-30 percent increase in prepared food sales upon the roll-out of a pizza delivery program to a store.”

Casey’s was founded in 1968 and became a publicly traded company in 1983.

(Radio Iowa)