LAVAL, QC, Jan. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. announces the realignment of geographies that creates two new business units in the United States. These two new business units will be identified as the Southwest division to be based in Dallas and will be comprised of the states of Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma and New Mexico. As for the Gulf division, it will be based in Pensacola and will be comprised of the states of Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and the western Panhandle of Florida.
Lou Valdes has been appointed to the position of Vice-President Operations for the Southwest Division. Lou has been with Circle K for almost 10 years holding a variety of positions from District Manager to Director of Operations and Facilities. He has over 27 years of experience in operations starting in 1985 with Drug Emporium Drug Stores.
Jason Broussard has been appointed to the position of Vice-President Operations for the Gulf Division. Jason has been with Circle K for over 17 years holding a variety of positions from Zone Manager / P.O.S. Coordinator to Director of Marketing and Fuel. He has over 24 years of experience in operations and marketing starting in 1983 with Southland Corporation.
"This realignment was necessary due to acquisitions that occurred over the past few years, and in order for our business units to position themselves for growth opportunities and to maintain the integrity of our business model which calls for each of the divisions to remain close to their stores, their customers and provide opportunities for our people", indicated Real Plourde, Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer.
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Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. is the leader in the Canadian convenience store industry. In North America, Couche-Tard is the second largest independent convenience store operator (whether integrated or not with a petroleum company) in terms of number of stores. Couche-Tard's network is comprised of 5,634 convenience stores, 3,434 of which include motor fuel dispensing, located in nine large geographic markets, including six in the United States covering 29 States and three in Canada covering six provinces. Some 45,000 people are employed throughout Couche-Tard's retail convenience network and executive offices.
The statements set for the in this press release, which describes Couche-Tard's objectives, projections, estimates, expectations or forecasts, may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of securities legislation. Positive or negative verbs such as "plan", "evaluate", "estimate", "believe", "expect" and other related expressions are used to identify such statements. Couche-Tard would like to point out that, by their very natures, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties such that its results, or the measures it adopts, could differ materially from those indicated or underlying these statements, or could have an impact on the degree of realization of a particular projections. Major factors that may lead to a material difference between Couche-Tard's actual results and the projections or expectations set forth in the forward-looking statements include the effects of the integration of acquired businesses and the ability to achieve projected synergies, fluctuations in margins on motor fuel sales, competition in the convenience store and retail motor fuel industries, exchange rate variations, and such other risks as described in detail from time to time in the reports filed by Couche-Tard with securities authorities in Canada and the United States. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, Couche-Tard disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The forward-looking information in this release is based on information available as of the date of the release.
