CEO of fuel retailer and refiner Parkland says tariff impact ‘neutral’ on business

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This article was published 06/03/2025 (385 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CALGARY – The chief executive of fuel refiner and retailer Parkland Inc., which is considering putting itself up for sale, says U.S. tariffs are having a “neutral” impact on the business. 

Bob Espey told analysts on a conference call Thursday that consumer spending has been positive so far this year, but the outlook is unpredictable. 

“The situation seems to be changing daily, if not hourly, in terms of are there tariffs or not,” he said. 

Of the 600,000 to 650,000 barrels a day of product Parkland sends into the market, only 10,000 barrels cross the Canada-U. S. border, he said. 

“We’re in many markets with multiple product lines, and that typically has been very good for us in volatile situations because we’re not dependent on any one market or any one consumer,” said Espey. 

“As we step back, we’re kind of neutral at this point. There’s some areas where we would expect to see some headwinds, but others where we would see tailwinds.”

Parkland has no plans to adjust its earnings forecast in light of the increased trade volatility, Espey added. 

On Tuesday, a 10 per cent tariff on energy shipments into the United States came into effect, with a 25 per cent levy on all other goods. 

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday pausing tariffs on some imports linked to the auto industry and lowering tariffs on potash, a fertilizer in high demand for American farmers, to 10 per cent. 

Late Wednesday, Parkland announced plans to review strategic alternatives, including the possible sale of the company — something its largest shareholder, Simpson Oil Ltd., had been urging. 

Parkland has struck a special board committee made up of independent directors to look at its business strategy and ways to boost returns to shareholders. In addition to selling the whole company, the committee is to also weigh asset sales and purchases or a merger. 

Simpson Oil has been invited to rejoin the board and take part in the special committee. 

Until Wednesday, Parkland had resisted Simpson’s call for a review, saying it would be unnecessary and not in the best interests of most shareholders. 

But board chair Michael Jennings said in Parkland’s earnings report Wednesday that the company’s intrinsic value is not reflected in its share price. 

Parkland shares closed up almost six per cent on Thursday to $36.88 on the TSX. 

Also Wednesday, Parkland announced a quarterly net loss of $29 million during the last three months of 2024, compared with net earnings of $86 million during the same period a year earlier. 

That amounted to a loss of 17 cents per diluted share compared with earnings of 48 cents per diluted share in the same 2023 quarter. 

Sales and operating revenue dropped to $6.73 billion in the third quarter of 2024, down from $7.75 billion in the same period a year earlier. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 6, 2025.

Companies in this story: (TSX: PKI)