CaribPR Wire

CaribPR Wire, MIAMI BEACH, Fla., Dec. 08, 2020: The Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund, Inc. (NASDAQ: CUBA) (the “Fund”) today announced its quarterly distribution pursuant to the Fund’s managed distribution policy (the “MDP”) and reported the results of its 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

Quarterly Distribution:

The Fund today declared the following distribution pursuant to the MDP:

The primary purpose of the MDP is to provide stockholders with a constant, but not guaranteed, fixed minimum rate of distribution each quarter (currently set at the annual rate of 15% of the Fund’s net asset value as determined on March 31, 2020 and payable in quarterly installments). The Fund cannot predict what effect, if any, the MDP will have on the market price of its shares or whether such market price will reflect a greater or lesser discount to net asset value as compared to prior to the adoption of the MDP. The quarterly distribution for the Fund’s second fiscal quarter constitutes the fifth consecutive quarterly distribution under the MDP.

The $0.15525 per share amount announced today reflects a distribution of 3.36% based upon the market price per share of the Fund and 2.64% based upon the net asset value per share of the Fund, each as of November 30, 2020. No conclusions should be drawn about the Fund’s investment performance from the amount of the Fund’s distributions or from the terms of the MDP.

Results of 2020 Annual Meeting:

In addition, the Fund held its annual stockholder meeting on November 12, 2020 (“Annual Meeting”). At the Annual Meeting, the Fund’s stockholders re-elected Mr. Thomas J. Herzfeld as Class III Director of the Fund, for a term of three years. Mr. Herzfeld is Chairman of the Fund’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) and President and Chairman of Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors, Inc. (“THJA”), and a Portfolio Manager of the Fund.

Details regarding the Managed Distribution Policy:

Under the MDP, the Fund will distribute all available investment income to its stockholders, consistent with its investment objective and as required by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). The amount distributed per share is subject to change at the discretion of the Board. If sufficient investment income is not available on a quarterly basis, the Fund will distribute long-term capital gains and/or return capital to its stockholders in order to maintain its managed distribution level. The Fund is currently not relying on any exemptive relief from Section 19(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”). The Fund may make additional distributions from time to time, including additional capital gain distributions at the end of the taxable year, if required to meet requirements imposed by the Code and/or the 1940 Act. Please note that for stockholders enrolled in the Fund’s Dividend Reinvestment Plan (“DRIP”), the distribution will be reinvested in additional shares of the Fund as described in the DRIP.

The Fund expects that distributions under the MDP will exceed investment income and available capital gains and thus expects that distributions under the MDP will likely include returns of capital for the foreseeable future. A return of capital may occur, for example, when some or all of a stockholder’s investment is paid back to the stockholder. A return of capital distribution does not necessarily reflect the Fund’s investment performance and should not be confused with ‘yield’ or ‘income.’ Any such returns of capital will decrease the Fund’s total assets and, therefore, could have the effect of increasing the Fund’s expense ratio. In addition, in order to maintain the level of distributions called for under its MDP, the Fund may have to sell portfolio securities at a less than opportune time.

The following table sets forth the estimated amounts of the current quarterly distribution and the cumulative distributions paid this fiscal year to date from the following sources: net investment income, net realized capital gains and return of capital. All amounts are expressed per common share.

No conclusions should be drawn about the Fund’s investment performance from the amount of the Fund’s distributions or from the terms of the MDP.

The amount distributed per share is subject to change at the discretion of the Board. The MDP is subject to ongoing review by the Board to determine whether it should be continued, modified or terminated. The Board may amend the terms of the MDP, suspend the MDP, or terminate the MDP at any time without prior notice to the Fund’s stockholders if it deems such actions to be in the best interest of the Fund or its stockholders. The amendment or termination of the MDP could have an adverse effect on the market price of the Fund’s shares.

With each distribution that does not consist solely of net investment income, the Fund will issue a notice to stockholders and an accompanying press release that will provide detailed information regarding the amount and composition of the distribution and other related information. The amounts and sources of distributions reported in the notice to stockholders are only estimates and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund’s investment experience during its full fiscal year and may be subject to changes based on tax regulations. The Fund will send stockholders a Form 1099-DIV for the respective calendar year that will tell them how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes. Stockholders should consult their tax advisor for proper tax treatment of the Fund’s distributions.

About Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors, Inc.

TJHA, founded in 1984, is an SEC registered investment advisor, specializing in investment analysis and account management in closed-end funds. The Firm also specializes in investment in the Caribbean Basin. The HERZFELD/CUBA division of Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors, Inc. serves as the investment advisor to The Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund, Inc. a publicly traded closed-end fund (NASDAQ: CUBA).

More information about the advisor can be found at www.herzfeld.com.

Past performance is no guarantee of future performance. An investment in the Fund is subject to certain risks, including market risk. In general, shares of closed-end funds often trade at a discount from their net asset value and at the time of sale may be trading on the exchange at a price which is more or less than the original purchase price or the net asset value. An investor should carefully consider the Fund’s investment objective, risks, charges and expenses. Please read the Fund’s disclosure documents before investing.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release, and other statements that Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors, Inc. (“TJHA”) or the Fund may make, may contain forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, with respect to the Fund’s or TJHA’s future financial or business performance, strategies or expectations. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words or phrases such as “trend,” “potential,” “opportunity,” “pipeline,” “believe,” “comfortable,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “current,” “intention,” “estimate,” “position,” “assume,” “outlook,” “continue,” “remain,” “maintain,” “sustain,” “seek,” “achieve,” and similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “may” or similar expressions. TJHA and the Fund caution that forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and TJHA and the Fund assume no duty to and do not undertake to update forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements and future results could differ materially from historical performance. With respect to the Fund, the following factors, among others, could cause actual events to differ materially from forward-looking statements or historical performance: (1) changes and volatility in political, economic or industry conditions, particularly with respect to Cuba and other Caribbean Basin countries, the interest rate environment, foreign exchange rates or financial and capital markets, which could result in changes in demand for the Fund or in the Fund’s net asset value; (2) the relative and absolute investment performance of the Fund and its investments; (3) the impact of increased competition; (4) the unfavorable resolution of any legal proceedings; (5) the extent and timing of any distributions or share repurchases; (6) the impact, extent and timing of technological changes; (7) the impact of legislative and regulatory actions and reforms, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and regulatory, supervisory or enforcement actions of government agencies relating to the Fund or TJHA, as applicable; (8) terrorist activities, international hostilities and natural disasters, which may adversely affect the general economy, domestic and local financial and capital markets, specific industries or TJHA or the Fund; (9) TJHA’s and the Fund’s ability to attract and retain highly talented professionals; (10) the impact of TJHA electing to provide support to its products from time to time; and (11) the impact of problems at other financial institutions or the failure or negative performance of products at other financial institutions. Annual and Semi-Annual Reports and other regulatory filings of the Fund with the SEC are accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and on TJHA’s website at www.herzfeld.com/cuba, and may discuss these or other factors that affect the Fund. The information contained on TJHA’s website is not a part of this press release.

CaribPR Wire, CALGARY, Alberta, Dec. 03, 2020: Parkland Corporation (“Parkland”, “we”, “our”, or “the Company”) (TSX:PKI) is pleased to announce that through its wholly owned U.S. subsidiaries (collectively, “Parkland USA”), it has entered into a series of transactions (the “Acquisitions”) to acquire:

• The assets of Story Distributing Company and its affiliates (collectively, “Story”). Story is a well-established retail and commercial fuel business headquartered in Bozeman, Montana. This acquisition adds scale and density to Parkland’s existing Northern Tier Regional Operating Center (“ROC”) and expands our presence in the high-growth Montana and Idaho markets.
• The assets of Carter Oil Company, Inc. and its affiliates (collectively, “Carter”). Carter is a wholesale and commercial fuel distributor based in Flagstaff, Arizona. This acquisition complements Parkland’s existing Utah and Arizona operations within our Rockies ROC and expands our presence in the high-growth Northern Arizona region.

On a combined basis, the Acquisitions include 13 quality company retail sites with strong non-fuel contribution, approximately 40 retail dealers as well as commercial fuel and lubricant distribution capabilities. The Acquisitions are expected to add annual fuel and petroleum product volume of approximately 275 million litres to our USA segment.

“We continue to build momentum in the U.S. and advance our growth strategy,” said Doug Haugh, President of Parkland USA. “These acquisitions expand our presence in high-growth regions and provide additional opportunities to leverage our On the Run convenience store brand and increase our supply and distribution capabilities. We see an attractive pipeline of opportunities and are well positioned for further growth.”

The Acquisitions are at valuation metrics consistent with Parkland’s prior U.S. transactions and will be funded with cash on hand and existing credit facility capacity. The transactions are subject to customary closing conditions, with Carter expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020 and Story in early 2021. Closing will be confirmed as part of our regular quarterly disclosure.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking information and statements (collectively, “forward-looking statements”). When used in this news release the words “expect”, “will”, “could”, “would”, “believe”, “continue”, “pursue” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements with respect to, among other things, the successful completion of the acquisition of Acquisitions and the timing thereof; expected benefits of the Acquisitions, the anticipated sources of funding of the Acquisitions, and future acquisition opportunities.

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. No assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release. Parkland does not undertake any obligations to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements except as may be required by securities law. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of numerous risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, failure to complete this acquisition; failure to satisfy the conditions to closing of the Acquisitions; failure to achieve the anticipated benefits of the Acquisitions; general economic, market and business conditions; competitive action by other companies; refining and marketing margins; the ability of suppliers to meet commitments; actions by governmental authorities and other regulators including but not limited to increases in taxes or restricted access to markets; changes and developments in environmental and other regulations; and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of Parkland. See also the risks and uncertainties described in “Forward-Looking Information” and “Risk Factors” included in Parkland’s Annual Information Form dated March 30, 2020 and in “Forward-Looking Information” and “Risk Factors” in Parkland’s annual MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2019 dated March 5, 2020 and in the interim MD&A for the three and nine month period ended September 30, 2020 dated November 3, 2020, each as filed on SEDAR and available on the Parkland website at www.parkland.ca.

About Parkland

Parkland is an independent supplier and marketer of fuel and petroleum products and a leading convenience store operator. Parkland services customers across Canada, the United States, the Caribbean region and the Americas through three channels: Retail, Commercial and Wholesale. Parkland optimizes its fuel supply across these three channels by operating and leveraging a growing portfolio of supply relationships and storage infrastructure. Parkland provides trusted and locally relevant fuel brands and convenience store offerings in the communities it serves.

Parkland creates value for shareholders by focusing on its proven strategy of growing organically, realizing a supply advantage and acquiring prudently and integrating successfully. At the core of our strategy are our people, as well as our values of safety, integrity, community and respect, which are embraced across our organization.

TORONTO, Dec. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ – Sovereign Pacific Capital, an Asia wealth and asset management organization establishes a USD $500M Sovereign Pacific Fund, in partnership with Possibility Group, for sustainable investments in St. Kitts & Nevis and the Caribbean region.

Sovereign Pacific Capital Ltd., www.sovereignpacific.co, a Singapore based wealth and asset management organization, partners with Possibility Group Ltd., a Caribbean value creation organization, to establish a USD $500M Sovereign Pacific Fund for sustainable investments in St. Kitts & Nevis and the Caribbean region. Sovereign Pacific Fund will be administered and managed by Possibility Capital Inc., www.possibility.capital, a Caribbean wealth and asset management organization.

Sovereign Pacific Capital’s focus includes Financial Services, Real Estate, Healthcare, Renewable Energy, Hotels & Resorts, Manufacturing and Agriculture.

Sovereign Pacific Capital’s Chairman, Umashanker Mishra, is an Indian Canadian, Philanthropist, Attorney and Solicitor and Investment Banker. He is the Founder & Chairman of Global Human Care Foundation, which is a private Canadian entity focused on charitable projects in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean region.

Possibility Group, www.possibility.capital, is a leading value creation organization in Asia, Caribbean and North America. Possibility creates, develops and manages sustainable business for stakeholders based on a life cycle engineered, performance driven, partnerships = possibilities system.

Possibility’s Caribbean business includes Real Estate Development, Renewable Energy, Asset Management, Possibility Capital, Investment Management, Sustainable Manufacturing, Proprietary Agriculture and Medical Healthcare.

Possibility Group’s President & CEO, Leslie Thomas, P. Eng., is a Caribbean Canadian, born in St. Kitts & Nevis, with a personal motivation to “give back” to Tabernacle, St. Kitts & Nevis and the Caribbean and to contribute in a “unique and lasting” way to the region through Possibility Group, Possibility Capital and Global Human Care Foundation.

“We are very excited about our partnership with Sovereign Pacific Capital; Chairman, Umashanker Mishra and Sovereign Pacific’s USD $500M Fund, which will help to address a significant Barrier to Growth (access to Financing) in the Caribbean Region”.

“Sustainable manufacturing in the Caribbean region and the production of high quality Caribbean steel rebar and also environmentally friendly Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF), will help property owners, developers, resorts, hotels, governments, institutions and asset managers to reduce capital cost, energy cost and construction time, and significantly increase buildings strength (hurricane proof). Further benefits include developing new skills, trades, occupations, employment for Women in the construction industry and our Suncastle Resorts, Condos & Commercial buildings will be constructed primarily by Caribbean Women (to the highest industry standards and without compromise in quality, safety, strength or finish), which will be innovative, revolutionary, unique and life changing”, said Mr. Thomas.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1345026/Possibility_Group_Ltd__Sovereign_Pacific_s_USD__500M_Fund_for_Th.jpg
Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1345025/Possibility_Group_Ltd__Sovereign_Pacific_s_USD__500M_Fund_for_Th.jpg

Leading NYC-based boutique financial advisory brings three decades of experience providing innovative solutions for the Caribbean’s
most pressing infrastructure challenges

CaribPR Wire, New York, NY , Mon. November 30, 2020: Standard International Group, a leading New York City-based boutique financial advisory firm with a focus on revitalizing critical infrastructure projects across the U.S. Municipal, Caribbean, and West Africa, announced the completion of $193M in financing for St. Maarten’s Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIAE) Terminal Reconstruction. André Wright, Executive Vice President of Standard International Group, made the announcement.

On behalf of St. Maarten and Princess Juliana International Airport, Mr. Wright advised on the $50M loan from The European Investment Bank (EIB) and $50M grant from The World Bank, for a total of $100M in investment capital combined with $22M from the Government of St. Maarten in the form of liquidity support. Mr. Wright also ensured the project received a maximum insurance claim payout of $71M by introducing Willis Towers Watson to serve as insurance advisory services provider.

Princess Juliana International Airport is among the busiest airports in the North Eastern Caribbean, serving St. Maarten, St. Martin, Saba, St. Eustatius, Anguilla, and St Barthélemy and is the engine of St. Maarten’s economy, serving over 1.8 million passengers and employing over 1,000 local residents each year.

Following the destruction from hurricane Irma, Princess Juliana International Airport required massive remediation and reconstruction. Standard International Group provided end-to-end advisory, from creating the financial models, structuring the plan of finance, liaising with current bondholders and providing rating agency advisory, with a vision of success and prosperity for this important project. The new airport design will feature security improvements and is expected to surpass its past performance. Terminal reconstruction is slated to commence in 2021.

For over 20 years, Standard International Group has worked collaboratively with St. Maarten leadership to create transformative solutions that improve the bottom line and local economy. During this period, Standard International Group has provided financial advisory for a variety of infrastructure advancements, including the original Princess Juliana International Airport transaction (2004), several financial advisory and capital raises for the St. Maarten electricity company (GEBE), cruise port facilities, shopping and real estate development, and other projects. With a long history of working with government leadership and multiple investment teams, Standard International Group was able to successfully complete these projects and ensure positive results for all stakeholders.

“Investing in better infrastructure, solutions for climate change and the wellbeing of local communities is a major priority across the Caribbean, but it is often a difficult process,” stated Mr. Wright. “Standard International Group specializes in securing financing for complex infrastructure projects, creating win-win situations for investors as well as communities.”
About Standard International Group

Standard International Group is an independent financial advisory boutique that emphasizes service and innovation. Founded by André Wright in 1996, Standard International Group focuses on revitalizing critical infrastructure projects across the U.S. Municipal, Caribbean, and West Africa. Mr. Wright brings a decade of Wall Street experience and over thirty years of financial advisory and investment banking expertise to some of these regions’ most pressing infrastructure problems. Standard International Group does business where others either cannot or are not willing to go. The firm’s financial advisory services are built around comprehensive financial and credit analysis, local knowledge and industry expertise with a focus on creating transformative solutions and successful outcomes. Standard International Group creates and shares opportunities with global investors, delivers debt and equity capital to sovereign and municipal governments and corporations, all while emphasizing the importance of positive results on a local level. For more information, please visit www.sig-usa.com.—

PHOTO CAN BE DOWNLOADED HERE

CaribPR Wire, CALGARY, Alberta, Nov. 19, 2020: Parkland Corporation (”Parkland”, “we”, the “Company”, or “our”) (TSX:PKI) is pleased to announce the appointment of Marcel Teunissen as Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”), effective December 1, 2020.

Marcel joins Parkland from Royal Dutch Shell, where he was Executive Vice President, Finance, Integrated Gas and New Energies, responsible for the financial management of Shell’s global portfolio of LNG assets and its emerging new energy business. With over 23 years of experience, Marcel has worked globally across the entire energy value chain, with an emphasis on refining, retail and related infrastructure.

“I am delighted to welcome Marcel to the Parkland Team and look forward to his contributions as we embark upon our next phase of growth,” said Bob Espey, President and Chief Executive Officer at Parkland. “His leadership experience, financial and business acumen, and broad global experiences make him an ideal fit to help drive our growth strategy and deliver market-leading results.”

Marcel brings an extensive background in corporate finance, treasury, financial planning and analysis, tax, strategic planning and commodity & financial risk management. He has also worked in many of the markets across Parkland’s diverse geographies, including Canada and the Caribbean.

Upon Marcel’s arrival, Darren Smart, who has served as interim CFO since December 2019, will return to his role of Senior Vice President, Strategy & Corporate Development which will be expanded to include developing and leading Parkland’s low-carbon and renewables strategy. Darren will continue to report directly to Bob Espey, President and Chief Executive Officer.

“I want to thank Darren for his tremendous work as interim CFO,” said Espey. “He embraced a large mandate through a global pandemic and ensured that we emerged with a stronger balance sheet and a high performing finance function. He accomplished this while simultaneously leading our Strategy and Corporate Development groups and developing a re-invigorated pipeline of accretive acquisition opportunities. Darren is key to Parkland’s success and I look forward to partnering with him to execute our aggressive growth agenda and to seize profitable, low-carbon and renewable opportunities.”

About Parkland Corporation
Parkland is an independent supplier and marketer of fuel and petroleum products and a leading convenience store operator. Parkland services customers across Canada, the United States, the Caribbean region and the Americas through three channels: Retail, Commercial and Wholesale. Parkland optimizes its fuel supply across these three channels by operating and leveraging a growing portfolio of supply relationships and storage infrastructure. Parkland provides trusted and locally relevant fuel brands and convenience store offerings in the communities it serves. Parkland creates value for shareholders by focusing on its proven strategy of growing organically, realizing a supply advantage and acquiring prudently and integrating successfully. At the core of our strategy are our people, as well as our values of safety, integrity, community and respect, which are embraced across our organization.

CaribPR Wire, CALGARY, Alberta, Nov. 03, 2020: Parkland Corporation (”Parkland”, “we”, the “Company”, or “our”) (TSX:PKI) announced today its financial and operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020. Highlights from the third quarter (unless otherwise indicated) include:

• Adjusted EBITDA attributable to Parkland (”Adjusted EBITDA”) of $338 million.
• Net earnings attributable to Parkland of $76 million, or $0.51 per share, basic.
• Adjusted distributable cash flow of $342 million (nine months ended September 30, 2020) fully funded growth capital expenditures, acquisitions and net dividend payments.
• Fuel and petroleum product volume continued to recover from the impact of COVID-19; total company volumes were within 5 percent of Q3 2019 volumes.
• Pro-active cost reductions and strong per unit fuel margins continued to offset the impact of volume declines. Operating and marketing, general and administrative (”MG&A”) costs were $47 million lower relative to Q3 2019.
• Marketing segments (Canada, International and USA) generated a 24 percent increase in Adjusted EBITDA over Q3 2019.
• Strong refinery utilization of 90 percent, which highlights the quality of our Burnaby refinery. This utilization rate reflected robust local demand and our best-in-class ability to successfully market distillate through the challenges of COVID-19.
• Maintained liquidity of $1.6 billion and lowered our Total Funded Debt to Credit Facility EBITDA ratio to 2.6 times as of September 30, 2020.
• Published our inaugural Sustainability Report outlining our established environmental, social and governance practices and setting the stage for development of our enterprise-wide sustainability strategy.

“I would like to congratulate the Parkland team for exceptional financial and operating performance,” said Bob Espey, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We continue to prove the resilience of our business model and first-rate execution capabilities. These strengths have underpinned our success year-to-date and give us confidence in our ability to manage through challenging market environments, grow the business and add shareholder value.”

“I am especially proud of the way our team has maintained a focus on safety, managed costs, won new business, published our inaugural Sustainability Report and continued to serve our customers and support our communities over the last nine months,” added Espey. “In addition, we have maintained strict financial discipline and positioned ourselves to grow our existing business organically and through acquisitions in the current environment.”

Q3 2020 Segment Highlights

Canada: Recovering volumes, strong margins and c-store sales

Steady volume recovery, strong fuel margins and convenience store sales drove a 23 percent increase in Adjusted EBITDA relative to Q3 2019. We delivered our 19^th consecutive quarter of Company C-Store same-store sales growth (”SSSG’), surpassed one million JOURNIE™ Rewards members and continued to win new business. Third quarter highlights include:

• Adjusted EBITDA of $128 million, up $24 million relative to 2019. The increase was primarily driven by strong per unit fuel margins, higher convenience store baskets and lower operating and MG&A costs.
• Fuel and petroleum product volume of 2.3 billion litres, a decrease of 7 percent relative to 2019 due to the impact of COVID-19. Retail fuel volumes were 8 percent lower than prior year while commercial and other volumes were 6 percent lower.
• Company C-Store SSSG of 10.7 percent, reflecting the attractiveness of the convenience store channel, the quality of our customer value proposition, strong execution and domestic tourism impacts. We saw particular strength in our new-to-industry and rebranded On the Run sites, with sales increases across most major categories, offset by lower car wash.
• Operating Costs decreased $10 million and MG&A costs decreased $8 million relative to 2019, reflecting proactive cost control measures and natural variability in our cost structure.
• JOURNIE™ Rewards membership continued to grow and now exceeds one million active members. We have witnessed high engagement from our initial promotional campaigns, increases in backcourt conversion and growing CIBC cardholder penetration.

International: Strong supply performance, shipping optimization and cost efficiencies

The International segment delivered a 22 percent increase in Adjusted EBITDA relative to Q3 2019, driven by strong supply performance, shipping optimization and cost reduction initiatives. Rolling COVID-19 lockdowns resulted in lower volumes; however, we continued to benefit from geographic and product diversity within our portfolio. The International team continued to drive new growth, in particular, securing new natural resource sector business in Suriname and new diesel supply contracts in the Spanish Caribbean. Third quarter highlights include:

• Adjusted EBITDA of $77 million, up $14 million relative to 2019. The increase was primarily driven by profitable supply sourcing initiatives, including a one-off supply gain of approximately $10 million, and lower costs, offset by reduced aviation and retail activity.
• Fuel and petroleum product volume of 1.1 billion litres, a decrease of 8 percent relative to 2019 due to the impact of COVID-19. Retail fuel volumes were 15 percent lower while commercial and other volumes were 3 percent lower. Although International is experiencing continuing progress in demand recovery with the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, we anticipate the recovery will be tempered until COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and tourism activity returns to normal.
• Reduced operating costs by $7 million and MG&A costs by $6 million relative to 2019, reflecting the sustained benefit of proactive cost control measures, natural variability in our cost structure and integration.

USA: National accounts growth and strong margins

The USA segment delivered a 35 percent increase in Adjusted EBITDA relative to Q3 2019, driven by recent acquisitions, organic growth and strong fuel and non-fuel unit margins. This performance was partially offset by COVID-19 volume impacts and lower commercial activity in our Northern Regional Operations Center (”ROC”). The USA team is realizing the benefits of local scale, winning new business and growing volume in the Rockies and Southeast ROCs and improving fuel and lubricant supply economics. We continue to evaluate acquisition opportunities to increase our marketing presence and optimize our growing supply advantage. Third quarter highlights include:

• Adjusted EBITDA of $23 million, up $6 million relative to 2019. The increase was primarily due to acquisitions, strong unit margins and coordinated marketing efforts to grow national accounts.
• Fuel and petroleum product volume of 653 million litres, an increase of 44 percent relative to 2019 due to the impact of acquisitions and organic growth, offset by the impact of COVID-19. Retail fuel volume increased 4 percent while wholesale and commercial volume increased 51 percent.
• Operating Costs increased $8 million and MG&A costs increased $4 million relative to 2019, due to the impact of acquisitions.
• Consistent with our strategy to grow our non-fuel business, we acquired the license for the exclusive use of the On the Run trademark in the majority of U.S. states. This positions us to create a unified, North American convenience store brand and our first pilot rebranding is planned for the first half of 2021.

Supply: Burnaby refinery operated at 90 percent utilization

Adjusted EBITDA in the Supply segment decreased 16% relative to Q3 2019, driven by the impacts of COVID-19 but mitigated by strong refining utilization and steady performance from our integrated logistics business. Our ability to market diesel and jet fuel allowed our refinery to run more efficiently, resulting in utilization rates meaningfully above the North American average. Third quarter highlights include:

• Adjusted EBITDA of $122 million, down $24 million relative to 2019 due to COVID-19 related volume and pricing impacts which drove lower refinery utilization and margins compared to 2019, but strong considering external market factors.
• Refinery utilization was 90 percent, underpinned by our integrated marketing channels in British Columbia and ability to place both diesel and jet fuel at prevailing market prices.
• Reduced operating costs by $15 million and MG&A costs by $6 million relative to 2019, reflecting the variable components of production costs and proactive cost control measures.
• We continue to pursue high-quality growth projects that extend our supply advantage, such as diesel import and export opportunities and development of our renewable fuel strategy.

Corporate – organizational efficiency delivering sustainable MG&A savings

The Corporate segment includes centralized administrative services and expenses incurred to support operations. Third quarter highlights include:

• MG&A costs of $22 million, down $7 million relative to 2019, reflecting the sustained benefit of proactive cost control measures and natural variability in our cost structure.
• As a percentage of total adjusted gross profit, MG&A costs decreased to 3.3 percent (from 4.3 percent in 2019).
• Adjusted EBITDA expense of $12 million, which includes MG&A costs and foreign exchange gains on US dollar debt repayments during the quarter.

Consolidated Financial Overview

_{(1)  Measure of segment profit and Non-GAAP financial measures. See Section 12 of this MD&A.
(2)  For comparative purposes, information for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019 was restated due to a change in segment presentation. Canada Retail and Canada Commercial, formerly presented separately as individual segments, and the Canadian distribution business, formerly presented in Supply, are now included in Canada, reflecting a change in organizational structure in the first six months of 2020.
(3)  Calculated using the weighted average number of common shares.
(4)  2020 and 2019 results reflect the adoption of IFRS 16 as of January 1, 2019. 2018 comparative figures reflect the accounting standards in effect for that year and are not restated to reflect the impact of IFRS 16, as is allowed under the modified retrospective approach for IFRS 16 adoption.
(5)  Amounts presented on a trailing-twelve-month (”TTM”) basis.
(6)  Beginning in Q1 2020, Credit Facility EBITDA includes Adjusted EBITDA attributable to NCI and excludes IFRS 16 impact attributable to NCI, and Total Funded Debt includes long term-debt attributable to NCI, letters of credit attributable to NCI and cash and cash equivalents attributable to NCI. The amounts presented for 2019 and 2018 have not been restated.}

Conference Call and Webcast Details

Parkland will host a webcast and conference call on Wednesday, November 4, at 6:30am MST (8:30am EST) to discuss the results.

To listen to the live webcast and watch the presentation, please use the following link:

https://produceredition.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1390182&tp_key=aefbc264cf

Analysts and institutional investors interested in participating in the question and answer session of the conference call may do so by calling 1-888-390-0546 (toll-free) (Conference ID: 51942789). International participants can call 1-587-880-2171 (toll) (Conference ID: 51942789).

Please connect and log in approximately 10 minutes before the beginning of the call.

The webcast will be available for replay two hours after the conference call ends at the link above. It will remain available for one year and will also be posted to www.parkland.ca.

MD&A and Consolidated Financial Statements

The Q3 2020 MD&A and Q3 2020 Financial Statements provide a detailed explanation of Parkland’s operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020. An English version of these documents will be available online at www.parkland.ca and SEDAR after the results are released by newswire under Parkland’s profile at www.sedar.com. The Q3 2020 French MD&A and Q3 2020 French Financial Statements will be posted to www.parkland.ca and SEDAR as soon as they become available.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking information and statements (collectively, “forward-looking statements”). When used in this news release the words “expect”, “will”, “could”, “would”, “believe”, “continue”, “pursue” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements with respect to, among other things, business objectives and strategies, estimated 2020 capital expenditures, potential acquisition opportunities, potential projects to extend Parkland’s supply advantage, the ongoing roll out of the JOURNIE™ Rewards loyalty program, expected Burnaby refinery utilization rates, and Parkland’s ability to advance its growth agenda.

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. No assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release. Parkland does not undertake any obligations to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements except as required by securities law. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of numerous risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, general economic, market and business conditions, including the duration and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; Parkland’s ability to execute its business strategies; industry capacity; competitive action by other companies; refining and marketing margins; the ability of suppliers to meet commitments; actions by governmental authorities and other regulators including but not limited to increases in taxes or restricted access to markets; changes and developments in environmental and other regulations; and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of Parkland. See also the risks and uncertainties described in “Forward-Looking Information” and “Risk Factors” included in Parkland’s Annual Information Form dated March 20, 2020, and “Forward-Looking Information” and “Risk Factors” included in the Q3 2020 MD&A dated November 3, 2020, each filed on SEDAR and available on the Parkland website at www.parkland.ca. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This news release refers to certain non-GAAP financial measures that are not determined in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (”IFRS”). Distributable cash flow, distributable cash flow per share, adjusted distributable cash flow, adjusted distributable cash flow per share, total funded debt to credit facility EBITDA ratio, dividend payout ratio, adjusted dividend payout ratio and growth and maintenance capital expenditures attributable to Parkland are not measures recognized under IFRS and do not have standardized meanings prescribed by IFRS. Management considers these to be important supplemental measures of Parkland’s performance and believes these measures are frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of companies in our industry. See Section 12 of the Q3 2020 MD&A for a discussion of non-GAAP measures and their reconciliations to the nearest applicable IFRS measure.

Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted gross profit are measures of segment profit. See Section 12 of the Q3 2020 MD&A and Note 19 of the Q3 2020 FS for a reconciliation of these measures of segment profit. Investors are encouraged to evaluate each measure and the reasons Parkland considers it appropriate for supplemental analysis.

In addition to non-GAAP financial measures, Parkland uses a number of operational KPIs, such as SSSG and refinery utilization, to measure the success of our strategic objectives and to set variable compensation targets for employees. These KPIs are not accounting measures, do not have comparable IFRS measures, and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers, as other issuers may calculate these metrics differently. See Section 12 of the Q3 2020 MD&A for further details.

Investors are cautioned that these measures should not be construed as an alternative to net earnings determined in accordance with IFRS as an indication of Parkland’s performance.

Effective January 1, 2019, Parkland adopted the new accounting standard, IFRS 16 – Leases (”IFRS 16″). The adoption of IFRS 16 has a significant effect on Parkland’s reported results. Due to Parkland’s selected transition method, it has not restated its prior year comparatives. Certain financial statement measures are presented excluding the impact of IFRS 16 (”Pre-IFRS 16 measures”).

About Parkland Corporation

Parkland is an independent supplier and marketer of fuel and petroleum products and a leading convenience store operator. Parkland services customers across Canada, the United States, the Caribbean region and the Americas through three channels: Retail, Commercial and Wholesale. Parkland optimizes its fuel supply across these three channels by operating and leveraging a growing portfolio of supply relationships and storage infrastructure. Parkland provides trusted and locally relevant fuel brands and convenience store offerings in the communities it serves.

Parkland creates value for shareholders by focusing on its proven strategy of growing organically, realizing a supply advantage and acquiring prudently and integrating successfully. At the core of our strategy are our people, as well as our values of safety, integrity, community and respect, which are embraced across our organization.

CaribPR Wire, CALGARY, Alberta, Oct. 20, 2020: Parkland Corporation (“Parkland”) (TSX:PKI) expects to announce its 2020 third quarter results after markets close on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. A conference call and webcast will then be held at 6:30 a.m. MDT (8:30 a.m. EDT) on Wednesday, November 4, 2020, to discuss the results.

To listen to the live webcast and watch the presentation, please use the following link:
https://produceredition.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1390182&tp_key=aefbc264cf

Analysts and institutional investors interested in participating in the question and answer session of the conference call may do so by calling 1-888-390-0546 (toll-free) (Conference ID: 51942789).

Please connect and log in approximately 10 minutes before the beginning of the call. The webcast will be available for replay two hours after the conference call ends at the link above. It will remain available for one year and will also be posted to www.parkland.ca.

Financial Statements and Management’s Discussion and Analysis will be posted to www.parkland.ca and SEDAR after the results are released.

About Parkland

Parkland is an independent supplier and marketer of fuel and petroleum products and a leading convenience store operator. Parkland services customers across Canada, the United States, the Caribbean region and the Americas through three channels: Retail, Commercial and Wholesale. Parkland optimizes its fuel supply across these three channels by operating and leveraging a growing portfolio of supply relationships and storage infrastructure. Parkland provides trusted and locally relevant fuel brands and convenience store offerings in the communities it serves.

Parkland creates value for shareholders by focusing on its proven strategy of growing organically, realizing a supply advantage and acquiring prudently and integrating successfully. At the core of our strategy are our people, as well as our values of safety, integrity, community and respect, which are embraced across our organization.

The survey shows results about the essential aspects of Latin Americans’ lives after quarantine.
The new Mastercard campaign seeks to support consumers and small businesses as they return to a new normal.

CaribPR Wire, MIAMI, Oct. 08, 2020: Latin America and the Caribbean are entering a new reality: many countries are reopening their borders, governments are easing distance measures, and non-essential businesses are opening to the public again.

During this new phase, Mastercard announced its new regional campaign, “Lo Esencial” (The Essentials) to highlight those everyday moments that became essential after COVID-19. The campaign will provide consumers and local businesses with safe shopping experiences, tools, and education that help fulfill their everyday needs.

To develop this initiative, Mastercard conducted a survey in 13 countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean including, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, and Peru, to better understand consumption and purchase habits after the period of confinement.

According to the “Lo Esencial” survey, 67% of Latin Americans surveyed said they have a greater appreciation for their family than before the quarantine. The survey also highlights an increased awareness of other essentials such as health (47%), taking personal time (41%), mental health (32%), and spending time with friends (26%).

As consumers engage in their return to a new normal, 6 out of 10 people (57%) plan to invest in the quality of their family experiences. Additionally, 46% of Latin Americans indicated their wish to support local businesses more in this return phase, than before the pandemic.

In terms of payment experiences, for purchases made in person as well as online, the essentials cited by consumers include, security (59%), speed (23%), and convenience (17%). Purchases with chip cards and contactless payments were the most popular options for payment. Furthermore, 62% of Latin Americans stated that they used a home shopping service during the quarantine. In fact, almost half of them (46%) said that they would continue to use this service in the future.

As a leader in the payments industry, Mastercard is committed to developing a global technology infrastructure and use its brand strength to positively impact society with safer, faster, and more efficient payment experiences. This new regional campaign reflects this commitment and seeks to highlight everyday moments that have become “The Essentials” (Lo Esencial) in the aftermath of the pandemic. The campaign will continue to provide unique shopping experiences, relevant consumer education, and tools to help society thrive.

“The pandemic helped us realize the importance of the everyday moments we lost and grew to miss as we all did our part to stay at home. The experience associated with getting our morning coffee, or meeting up with friends have a renewed level of appreciation, and the ability to recover these essential moments today is priceless,” said Roberto Ramirez Laverde, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Mastercard Latin America and the Caribbean. “This campaign seeks to help individuals welcome a new normal with a new sense of gratitude while also helping consumers and small businesses make them a reality as part of our role as the strategic partner for local businesses.”

About Mastercard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com
Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere, by making transactions safe, simple, smart, and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships, and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments, and businesses realize their greatest potential. Our decency quotient, or DQ, drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside our company. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we build a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all.

A Photo accompanying this PR is at: https://www.newsamericasnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/lo-esencial-lac-infographics-eng.jpg

TORONTO, Oct. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ – SQL Power (www.sqlpower.ca), the global leader in financial regulatory and advanced analytics technology is proud to announce the implementation of their supervisory platform, the SQL Power Suite, on September 22, 2020 at the Trinidad and Tobago Securities and Exchange Commission (TTSEC).

According to the TTSEC, the Electronically Advanced Submission interface or EASi platform will revolutionize the way in which the securities industry is regulated, as it puts market players front and center in navigating the system, from submission and renewal of applications to disclosure filings among other important services.

The implementation of the EASi platform also comes in the midst of a national public health crisis (and global pandemic) when the demand for contactless delivery of services is paramount to ensuring business continuity and the stability of the economy, whilst safeguarding public health. The integrated system allows for a greater degree of transparency in the regulatory process and will strengthen confidence in the local securities market.

“I am confident that the TTSEC digital transformation initiative (EASi) will be a huge success, and will serve as a showcase implementation for all Security Exchange Commissions around the World,” said Sam Selim, President and CEO of SQL Power.

The SQL Power Suite is the most robust financial regulatory (SupTech) solution on the market, delivering the ultimate in regulator flexibility, efficiency and transparency; increasing the likelihood of timely successful intervention while providing all interested parties with the ultimate confidence in the regulated market.

About SQL Power:

Founded in 1989, and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, SQL Power Group Inc. is a global application software firm specializing in data collection, data integration, business intelligence, and regulatory implementations.

Since implementing the first supervisory solution in Canada in 2009, SQL Power has been at the forefront of financial regulatory software innovation – rolling out the world’s first fully-integrated XBRL-based data collection, risk management, case management and advanced analytics solution that evolves seamlessly with evolving Global Financial Standards.

The SQL Power Supervisory Platform is an end to end solution for financial regulation. The platform is multilingual, modular and includes: Data Collection, Registration and Licensing, Case Management, Risk Management, and Onsite inspection solutions. The platform also comes bundled with built-in Advanced Analytics capabilities and a world-class Business Intelligence Tool.

CARIB PR WIRE, CALGARY, Alberta, Aug. 06, 2020: Parkland Corporation (”Parkland”, “we”, the “Company”, or “our”) (TSX:PKI) announced today its financial and operating results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020. Highlights from the second quarter (three months) include:

• Adjusted EBITDA attributable to Parkland (”Adjusted EBITDA”) of $191 million.
• Net earnings attributable to Parkland of $32 million or $0.22 per share, basic.
• Cash flow from operations fully funded capital expenditures, acquisitions and net dividend payments.
• Fuel and petroleum product volume decreased by 14 percent relative to 2019 due to the impact of COVID-19.
• Operating and marketing, general and administrative (”MG&A”) costs decreased by a combined $80 million relative to 2019. The cost reductions and strong per unit fuel margins helped offset the impact of volume declines.
• Refinery utilization was 64 percent for the quarter, reflecting the impact of the Burnaby refinery turnaround (the “Turnaround”). Post the Turnaround, utilization was between 75 – 80 percent to account for lower product demand.
• Closed $400 million offering of Senior Notes due 2028 and subsequently redeemed $400 million of Senior Notes maturing in 2021 and 2022.
• Improved liquidity of $1.6 billion and Total Funded Debt to Credit Facility EBITDA ratio of 2.7 times as of June 30, 2020.
• Modest increase to expected 2020 capital expenditures of $50 million, to an expected total of $325 million +/- 5%.
• Proudly supported our Canadian, US and International communities through the COVID-19 pandemic by donating over $4 million of fuel and premium food items.

“I would like to thank the Parkland team for safely serving our customers and delivering strong financial and operating performance, in what was the most challenging macro environment we have ever seen,” said Bob Espey, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We delivered solid margins, won new business and successfully managed our cash flow by reducing costs and controlling capital expenditures. Our financial and operating performance through the second quarter demonstrates the flexibility and resilience of our diversified business model. While we remain nimble in light of ongoing COVID-19 uncertainty, we are confident in our ability to advance our growth agenda.”

Q2 2020 Segment Highlights

Canada

Strong per unit fuel margins and convenience store traffic drove an over 30 percent increase in Adjusted EBITDA relative to 2019. We advanced key organic growth initiatives such as real-time pricing and enhanced digital analytics and continued to win new commercial business. We delivered our 18^th consecutive quarter of Company C-Store same-store sales growth (”SSSG’), completed the roll out of our JOURNIE™ Rewards program and advanced our National Fueling Network (”NFN”) to prepare for a second half 2020 launch. Second quarter highlights include:

• Adjusted EBITDA of $93 million, an increase of $22 million relative to 2019. The increase was primarily driven by strong per unit fuel margins, higher convenience store baskets and lower operating and MG&A costs.
• Fuel and petroleum product volume of 1.8 billion litres, a decrease of 24 percent relative to 2019 due to the impact of COVID-19. Retail fuel volume declined 28 percent while commercial and other volume declined 16 percent.
• Company volume SSSG of negative 29.3 percent, reflecting the volume decline due to COVID-19.
• Company C-Store SSSG of 12.1 percent, our 18th consecutive quarter of positive C-Store SSSG. The convenience store channel has been an attractive consumer option through COVID-19 and performed well despite the significant decline in forecourt traffic. The sales increase was driven by strong tobacco, alcohol, household essential, grocery and take-home format performance offset by lower car wash, fresh food and dispensed beverage offerings. Excluding the impact of cigarettes, Company C-Store SSSG was 7.3 percent.
• Operating Costs decreased $25 million and MG&A costs decreased $11 million relative to 2019, reflecting the natural variability in our cost structure, proactive cost control measures and a benefit from relief provided under the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (”CEWS”) program.
• Completed the roll out of JOURNIE™ Rewards at over 900 sites under the Chevron, Pioneer and Ultramar brands in Canada. Initial results are encouraging, with increased convenience and fuel baskets and early momentum with CIBC linked customers. We plan to begin joint marketing efforts with CIBC later this year as market conditions warrant. For more information on JOURNIE™, to save money on your fuel purchases and earn in-store rewards, please visit www.journie.ca.
• Our Canadian Commercial team secured a series of new organic business wins, including multi-million litre cardlock customers.

International

The International segment delivered a strong quarter despite an extensive COVID-19 impact in the Caribbean and South American regions. Our geographic and product diversity underpinned performance, with natural resource sector activity in South America and diversified economies in the Spanish Caribbean helping offset significant declines in aviation and retail. In addition, we meaningfully reduced costs and completed some of our ongoing integration work. The International team grew market share with minimal capital investment, including an exclusive commercial fuel supply agreement in Guyana and continued growth in the commercial mining sector. Our second quarter results demonstrate a robust base business excluding tourism and reinforce the long-term potential for International. Second quarter highlights include:

• Adjusted EBITDA of $54 million, a decrease of $20 million relative to 2019. The decrease was primarily driven by COVID-19 shutdowns, national curfew measures which required us to close certain retail gasoline and convenience stores, and lower aviation activity.
• Fuel and petroleum product volume of 1.2 billion litres, a decrease of 4 percent relative to 2019 due to the impact of COVID-19. Retail fuel volume declined 35 percent while commercial and other volume increased 15 percent. While Commercial and other volumes have lower per unit margins, this organic growth helped mitigate the overall decline.
• Reduced operating costs by $9 million and MG&A costs by $10 million relative to 2019, reflecting the natural variability in our cost structure, integration efforts and proactive cost control measures taken during the quarter.
• Our International team secured a five-year marine fuel contract with an international energy company in Guyana and continues to grow our presence in the power, energy, mining and construction sectors across the region.

USA

Our USA business performed well, with strong fuel margins, recent acquisitions, organic national accounts growth and proactive cost management contributing to a year over year increase in Adjusted EBITDA. We closed our previously announced acquisition of ConoMart Super Stores in mid-May, bringing seven high quality corporate retail locations and expanding our presence in Montana. Our recent acquisitions continue to perform well, and in particular, Tropic Oil delivered a record quarter through organic growth initiatives, including joint business opportunities with International and strength in the marine bunkering business in Miami. COVID-19 volume declines were offset by strong per unit retail and marine fuel margins. Second quarter highlights include:

• Adjusted EBITDA of $22 million, an increase of $9 million relative to 2019. The increase was primarily due to acquisitions, organic growth and strong retail and marine fuel margins.
• Fuel and petroleum product volume of 626 million litres, an increase of 59 percent relative to 2019 due to the impact of acquisitions and organic growth, offset by the impact of COVID-19. Retail fuel volume declined 14 percent while wholesale and commercial volume increased 73 percent.
• Operating Costs increased $15 million and MG&A costs increased $1 million relative to 2019, due to the impact of acquisitions.
• Our US team continues to win new business in a tough environment, adding national accounts customers in seven states, including several multi-million litre customers.

Supply

The Supply team delivered a safe and successful restart of the planned Turnaround in late April and reliable fuel supply to our customers with no interruptions. Our integrated logistics business performed well despite COVID-19 supply and demand impacts which lowered overall system volume. Refinery utilization and margins increased through June as the market recovered and we exited the quarter with balanced crude and finished product inventory levels. Second quarter highlights include:

• Adjusted EBITDA of $40 million, a decrease of $178 million relative to 2019 due to extended Turnaround timing driven by labour productivity challenges, some of which were COVID-19 related, reduced refinery utilization in response to lower product demand and strong refining crack spreads in the comparable 2019 period.
• Refinery utilization was 64 percent, reflecting downtime in early April and a standard production ramp up process. Utilization was between 75 – 80 percent for the remainder of the quarter and was supported by our integrated marketing channels in British Columbia.
• Invested $71 million of capital on the Turnaround during the six months ended June 30, 2020. Capital expenditures for the Turnaround were above original estimates of $60 million due to labour productivity challenges, some of which were COVID-19 related.
• Reduced operating costs by $26 million and MG&A costs by $3 million relative to 2019, reflecting the variable components of production costs, proactive cost control measures and relief provided under the CEWS program.
• We continue to pursue high-quality growth projects that extend our supply advantage, such as a fuel import terminal opportunity in the Port of Oshawa, Ontario, to provide a further cost-effective fuel supply source to our integrated marketing operations in the Greater Toronto Area.

Corporate

The Corporate segment includes centralized administrative services and expenses incurred to support operations. Second quarter highlights include:

• MG&A costs of $17 million, a decrease of $12 million relative to 2019, reflecting the natural variability in our cost structure, deliberate cost control measures and relief provided under the CEWS program.
• Adjusted EBITDA expense of $18 million, which includes MG&A costs and minor foreign exchange impacts during the quarter.
• As a percentage of total adjusted gross profit, MG&A costs decreased to 3.5 percent (from 4.0 percent in 2019).
• We continue to enhance base systems and processes to capture efficiency, limit costs from re-emerging in 2021 and position ourselves to scale the business without adding complexity. Examples include teaming up with Amazon Web Services to strengthen our customer value proposition and accelerate our digital transformation and process improvements to further simplify reporting and deliver efficiencies.

Consolidated Financial Overview

^{(1)  Measure of segment profit and Non-GAAP financial measures. See Section 12 of the MD&A.
(2)  For comparative purposes, information for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019 was restated due to a change in segment presentation. Canada Retail and Canada Commercial, formerly presented separately as individual segments and Canadian distribution business, formerly presented in Supply are now included in Canada, reflecting a change in organizational structure in the first six months of 2020.
(3)  Calculated using the weighted average number of common shares.
(4)  2020 and 2019 results reflect the adoption of IFRS 16 as of January 1, 2019. 2018 comparative figures reflect the accounting standards in effect for that year and are not restated to reflect the impact of IFRS 16, as is allowed under the modified retrospective approach for IFRS 16 adoption.
(5)  Amounts presented on a trailing-twelve-month (”TTM”) basis.
(6)  Beginning in Q1 2020, Credit Facility EBITDA includes Adjusted EBITDA attributable to NCI and excludes IFRS 16 impact attributable to NCI, and Total Funded Debt includes long term debt attributable to NCI, letters of credit attributable to NCI and cash and cash equivalents attributable to NCI. The amounts presented for 2019 and 2018 have not been restated.}

Update on COVID-19 Business Impacts

While the beginning of the economic recovery from COVID-19 has not been linear, we saw a steady increase in fuel volumes through the second quarter and into July. The potential for a COVID-19 second wave and associated economic impacts are difficult to forecast, however, our business has demonstrated tremendous resilience and flexibility through the uncertainty and these characteristics position us well for the future. Operational highlights subsequent to quarter end include:

• Canada segment volumes steadily improved through the quarter and continued into July and are now trending approximately 15 percent lower relative to 2019, consisting of an approximate 15 percent decline in both retail volume and commercial and other volume. Retail volume continues to trend upwards, while the recovery in commercial and wholesale volume has slowed in-line with seasonal activity. Consolidated per unit fuel margins have moderated slightly from Q2 2020 but remain above prior year levels.
• Canadian convenience store sales have remained robust through July. Convenience store margins have improved slightly relative to Q2 2020 as higher margin categories such as car wash and fresh food and beverage offerings recover.
• Our International segment is entering a seasonal low period. Although many countries have begun to reopen their economies, certain key markets have temporarily increased their restrictions as a result of rising COVID-19 cases. Volumes are trending approximately 20 percent lower in July relative to 2019 as a result of lower wholesale and aviation volumes, consisting of an approximate 25 percent decline in the commercial lines of business and 10 percent in the retail line of business. Per unit fuel margins for the segment have modestly increased relative to Q2 2020 as a result of the shifting product mix.
• Including the impact of acquisitions, US retail gasoline volumes in July are trending in-line relative to 2019 while preliminary wholesale and commercial volume continues to trend well above 2019. Per unit fuel margins have moderated from the historical strength in Q2 2020.
• Refinery utilization has been between 80 and 85 percent through July 2020. We continue to optimize throughput rates and refinery yields to maximize margin within current market conditions.

2020 Capital Guidance

On March 30, 2020, Parkland took decisive action in response to COVID-19 and reduced its guidance for 2020 total capital expenditures to $275 million +/- 5%, a reduction of $300 million. This reduction was consistent with our priority to maintain financial flexibility and balance sheet strength. Based on stronger cash flow generation relative to our initial COVID-19 planning scenario, higher Turnaround costs and other maintenance spend, we have increased our 2020 total capital expenditure guidance (the “2020 Capital Program”) by $50 million to $325 million +/- 5%. We remain flexible with our second half program to adapt to the economic environment. Details of our amended capital program are below:

Conference Call and Webcast Details

Parkland will host a webcast and conference call on Friday, August 7, at 6:30am MDT (8:30am EDT) to discuss the results.

To listen to the live webcast and watch the presentation, please use the following link:

https://produceredition.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1345078

Analysts and institutional investors interested in participating in the question and answer session of the conference call may do so by calling 1-888-390-0546 (toll-free) (Conference ID: 51995975). International participants can call 1-587-880-2171 (toll) (Conference ID: 51995975).

Please connect and log in approximately 10 minutes before the beginning of the call.

The webcast will be available for replay two hours after the conference call ends at the link above. It will remain available for one year and will also be posted to www.parkland.ca.

MD&A and Consolidated Financial Statements

The Q2 2020 MD&A and Q2 2020 Financial Statements provide a detailed explanation of Parkland’s operating results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020. An English version of these documents will be available online at www.parkland.ca and SEDAR after the results are released by newswire under Parkland’s profile at www.sedar.com. The Q2 2020 French MD&A and Q2 2020 French Financial Statements will be posted to www.parkland.ca and SEDAR as soon as they become available.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking information and statements (collectively, “forward-looking statements”). When used in this news release the words “expect”, “will”, “could”, “would”, “believe”, “continue”, “pursue” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements with respect to, among other things, business objectives, estimated 2020 capital expenditures, the ongoing launch of the JOURNIE™ Rewards loyalty program, expected Burnaby refinery utilization rates, the expected launch of the National Fueling Network program in the second half of 2020, potential supply import opportunities, and Parkland’s ability to advance its growth agenda. Additionally, this press release contains certain preliminary July results to illustrate the impact COVID-19 has had on our business. These numbers are preliminary, subject to finalization and quarter-end accounting procedures and do not constitute guidance.

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. No assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release. Parkland does not undertake any obligations to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements except as required by securities law. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of numerous risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, general economic, market and business conditions, including the duration and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; Parkland’s ability to execute its business strategies; industry capacity; competitive action by other companies; refining and marketing margins; the ability of suppliers to meet commitments; actions by governmental authorities and other regulators including but not limited to increases in taxes or restricted access to markets; changes and developments in environmental and other regulations; and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of Parkland. See also the risks and uncertainties described in “Forward-Looking Information” and “Risk Factors” included in Parkland’s Annual Information Form dated March 20, 2020, and “Forward-Looking Information” and “Risk Factors” included in the Q2 2020 MD&A dated August 6, 2020, each filed on SEDAR and available on the Parkland website at www.parkland.ca. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This news release refers to certain non-GAAP financial measures that are not determined in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (”IFRS”). Distributable cash flow, distributable cash flow per share, adjusted distributable cash flow, adjusted distributable cash flow per share, total funded debt to credit facility EBITDA ratio, dividend payout ratio and adjusted dividend payout ratio are not measures recognized under IFRS and do not have standardized meanings prescribed by IFRS. Management considers these to be important supplemental measures of Parkland’s performance and believes these measures are frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of companies in our industry. See Section 12 of the Q2 2020 MD&A for a discussion of non-GAAP measures and their reconciliations to the nearest applicable IFRS measure.

Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted gross profit are measures of segment profit. See Section 12 of the Q2 2020 MD&A and Note 20 of the Q2 2020 FS for a reconciliation of these measures of segment profit. Investors are encouraged to evaluate each measure and the reasons Parkland considers it appropriate for supplemental analysis.

In addition to non-GAAP financial measures, Parkland uses a number of operational KPIs to measure the success of our strategic objectives and to set variable compensation targets for employees. These KPIs are not accounting measures, do not have comparable IFRS measures, and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers, as other issuers may calculate these metrics differently. See Section 12 of the Q2 2020 MD&A for further details.

Investors are cautioned that these measures should not be construed as an alternative to net earnings determined in accordance with IFRS as an indication of Parkland’s performance.

Effective January 1, 2019, Parkland adopted the new accounting standard, IFRS 16 – Leases (”IFRS 16″). The adoption of IFRS 16 has a significant effect on Parkland’s reported results. Due to Parkland’s selected transition method, it has not restated its prior year comparatives. Certain financial statement measures are presented excluding the impact of IFRS 16 (”Pre-IFRS 16 measures”).

About Parkland Corporation

Parkland is an independent supplier and marketer of fuel and petroleum products and a leading convenience store operator. Parkland services customers across Canada, the United States, the Caribbean region and the Americas through three channels: Retail, Commercial and Wholesale. Parkland optimizes its fuel supply across these three channels by operating and leveraging a growing portfolio of supply relationships and storage infrastructure. Parkland provides trusted and locally relevant fuel brands and convenience store offerings in the communities it serves.

Parkland creates value for shareholders by focusing on its proven strategy of growing organically, realizing a supply advantage and acquiring prudently and integrating successfully. At the core of our strategy are our people, as well as our values of safety, integrity, community and respect, which are embraced across our organization.

CaribPR Wire, CALGARY, Alberta, July 22, 2020 — Parkland Corporation (”Parkland”, “we”, the “Company”, or “our”) (TSX:PKI) announced it is collaborating with Amazon Web Services (“AWS”) to further strengthen its customer value proposition and loyalty initiatives and accelerate its digital transformation. With AWS as its strategic digital provider, Parkland intends to tap into leading expertise in machine learning and analytics to improve its logistics and enable frictionless commerce.

CaribPR Wire, CALGARY, Alberta, July 21, 2020 — Parkland Corporation (“Parkland”) (TSX:PKI) expects to announce its 2020 second quarter results after markets close on Thursday, August 6, 2020. A conference call and webcast will then be held at 6:30 a.m. MDT (8:30 a.m. EDT) on Friday, August 7, 2020, to discuss the results.

To listen to the live webcast and watch the presentation, please use the following link:
https://produceredition.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1345078&tp_key=a86f827043

Analysts and institutional investors interested in participating in the question and answer session of the conference call may do so by calling 1-888-390-0546 (toll-free) (Conference ID: 51995975).

Please connect and log in approximately 10 minutes before the beginning of the call. The webcast will be available for replay two hours after the conference call ends at the link above. It will remain available for one year and will also be posted to www.parkland.ca.

Financial Statements and Management’s Discussion and Analysis will be posted to www.parkland.ca and SEDAR after the results are released.

About Parkland

Parkland is an independent supplier and marketer of fuel and petroleum products and a leading convenience store operator. Parkland services customers across Canada, the United States, the Caribbean region and the Americas through three channels: Retail, Commercial and Wholesale. Parkland optimizes its fuel supply across these three channels by operating and leveraging a growing portfolio of supply relationships and storage infrastructure. Parkland provides trusted and locally relevant fuel brands and convenience store offerings in the communities it serves.

Parkland creates value for shareholders by focusing on its proven strategy of growing organically, realizing a supply advantage and acquiring prudently and integrating successfully. At the core of our strategy are our people, as well as our values of safety, integrity, community and respect, which are embraced across our organization.

CaribPR Wire, CALGARY, Alberta, June 09, 2020: Parkland Corporation (”Parkland”, “we”, the “Company”, or “our”) (TSX:PKI) is pleased to announce a proactive update to its syndicated credit agreement terms. Highlights of the amended credit agreement include:

• An additional C$300 million of commitments under our syndicated credit facilities, maturing January 8, 2023. Pro forma the amendment, cash and cash equivalents plus unused credit facilities as of March 31, 2020 would have been C$1.2 billion.
• As at March 31, 2020 Total Funded Debt to Credit Facility EBITDA was 2.9 times, with a covenant limit of 5.0 times. Effective from Q4 2020 though Q3 2021, Parkland’s Total Funded Debt to Credit Facility EBITDA covenant limit will increase to 6.0 times, reverting to 5.0 times thereafter.
• The effective interest rate on the updated syndicated credit facilities is materially unchanged and all other financial covenants remain the same.

“We continue to see improvement in fuel demand and robust convenience store sales in most markets,” said Darren Smart, Interim-Chief Financial Officer. “Recognizing that the COVID-19 recovery remains dynamic, we have taken proactive steps to secure additional financial flexibility and to position us to take advantage of potential future growth opportunities. We remain focused on maintaining our balance sheet strength and are committed to exercising strict capital discipline. We would like to thank our banking group for their ongoing support and partnership in our future success.”

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking information and statements (collectively, “forward-looking statements”). When used in this news release the words “potential” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements with respect to the ability to take advantage of potential future growth opportunities.

No assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. See the risks and uncertainties described in “Forward-Looking Information” and “Risk Factors” included in Parkland’s Annual Information Form dated March 30, 2020 and in “Forward-Looking Information” and “Risk Factors” in the Q1 2020 MD&A, which are filed on SEDAR and available on the Parkland website at www.parkland.ca. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This news release refers to certain non-GAAP financial measures that are not determined in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (”IFRS”). See Section 12 – “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” of the Q1 2020 MD&A for a description of “Credit Facility EBITDA” and “Total Funded Debt to Credit Facility EBITDA”.

About Parkland Fuel Corporation

Parkland is an independent supplier and marketer of fuel and petroleum products and a leading convenience store operator. Parkland services customers across Canada, the United States, the Caribbean region and the Americas through three channels: Retail, Commercial and Wholesale. Parkland optimizes its fuel supply across these three channels by operating and leveraging a growing portfolio of supply relationships and storage infrastructure. Parkland provides trusted and locally relevant fuel brands and convenience store offerings in the communities it serves.

Parkland creates value for shareholders by focusing on its proven strategy of growing organically, realizing a supply advantage and acquiring prudently and integrating successfully. At the core of our strategy are our people, as well as our values of safety, integrity, community and respect, which are embraced across our organization.

CaribPR Wire, CALGARY, Alberta, May 13, 2020: Parkland Fuel Corporation (“Parkland”, “We”, “Our” or “Us”) (TSX:PKI) announced today that through its wholly-owned U.S. subsidiaries (collectively, “Parkland USA”), it has completed the previously announced asset agreement to acquire ConoMart Super Stores.

ConoMart Super Stores operates seven retail sites located in and around Billings, Montana. Please see Parkland’s press release dated March 9, 2020, for more information about this acquisition.

About Parkland
Parkland is an independent supplier and marketer of fuel and petroleum products and a leading convenience store operator. Parkland services customers across Canada, the United States, the Caribbean region and the Americas through three channels: Retail, Commercial and Wholesale. Parkland optimizes its fuel supply across these three channels by operating and leveraging a growing portfolio of supply relationships and storage infrastructure. Parkland provides trusted and locally relevant fuel brands and convenience store offerings in the communities it serves.

Parkland creates value for shareholders by focusing on its proven strategy of growing organically, realizing a supply advantage and acquiring prudently and integrating successfully. At the core of our strategy are our people, as well as our values of safety, integrity, community and respect, which are embraced across our organization.

CaribPR Wire, CALGARY, Alberta, May 08, 2020: Parkland Fuel Corporation, (”Parkland”, “We”, the “Company”, or “Our”) (TSX:PKI) held its annual and special meeting of shareholders on May 7, 2020 (the “Meeting”).

The Company is pleased to announce that shareholders representing approximately 99.9% of votes cast approved a special resolution authorizing the Company to amend its articles to change its name to “Parkland Corporation” and the adoption of “Corporation Parkland” as its French name. The common shares of the Company will continue to trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under its existing trading symbol, PKI. The effective date of the name change will be May 15, 2020 and the Company’s common shares will commence trading on the TSX under the new name within 2-3 business days. Each existing share certificate reflecting the current name of the Company will continue to represent a valid certificate until such certificate is transferred, re-registered or otherwise exchanged.

Furthermore, all matters presented at the meeting were approved included the election of all nine of the nominees listed in its management information circular dated March 31, 2020 (the “Information Circular”). The complete results of voting for business considered at the Meeting are set out below:

Resolution 1

Election of directors of Parkland for the ensuing year.

Resolution 2

The reappointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Chartered Accountants, as auditor of Parkland for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020.

Resolution 3

The approval of Parkland’s restated shareholder rights plan, as set forth and described in the Information Circular.

Resolution 4

The approval of unallocated options under Parkland’s stock option plan, as set forth and described in the Information Circular.

Resolution 5

The approval of amendments to Parkland’s restricted share unit plan, as set forth and described in the Information Circular.

Resolution 6

The approval of unallocated restricted share units under Parkland’s restricted share unit plan, as set forth and described in the Information Circular.

Resolution 7

The approval of Parkland’s corporate name change from “Parkland Fuel Corporation” or “Corporation Pétroles Parkland” to “Parkland Corporation” or “Corporation Parkland”, respectively, as set forth and described in the Information Circular.

Resolution 8

The approval, on a non-binding and advisory basis, of Parkland’s approach to executive compensation as more particularly set forth and described in the Information Circular.

Voting results for all matters have been posted on SEDAR.

About Parkland Fuel Corporation

Parkland is an independent supplier and marketer of fuel and petroleum products and a leading convenience store operator. Parkland services customers across Canada, the United States, the Caribbean region and the Americas through three channels: Retail, Commercial and Wholesale. Parkland optimizes its fuel supply across these three channels by operating and leveraging a growing portfolio of supply relationships and storage infrastructure. Parkland provides trusted and locally relevant fuel brands and convenience store offerings in the communities it serves.

Parkland creates value for shareholders by focusing on its proven strategy of growing organically, realizing a supply advantage and acquiring prudently and integrating successfully. At the core of our strategy are our people, as well as our values of safety, integrity, community and respect, which are embraced across our organization.

CaribPR WIRE CALGARY, Alberta, May 06, 2020: Parkland Fuel Corporation (”Parkland”, “we”, the “Company”, or “our”) (TSX:PKI) announced today its financial and operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2020. First quarter highlights include:

• Adjusted EBITDA attributable to Parkland (”Adjusted EBITDA”) of $191 million.
• Net earnings (loss) attributable to Parkland of $(79) million or $(0.53) per share, basic.
• Strong financial position with significant liquidity to manage through challenging market environments. Cash and cash equivalents plus unused credit facilities was $908 million as of March 31, 2020.
• Total Funded Debt to Credit Facility EBITDA ratio was 2.9 times (relative to a covenant of 5.0 times) as of March 31, 2020.
• Cash flow from operating activities of $258 million fully funded growth and maintenance capital expenditures, dividend payments and the Kellerstrass acquisition.
• Trailing-twelve-month adjusted dividend payout ratio of 40 percent.
• Fuel and petroleum product volume of 6.0 billion litres, up 12 percent from Q1 2019.
• Acted decisively and prudently in response to the novel coronavirus (”Covid-19″) to ensure the safety of our employees, customers and communities, mitigate the impacts of the pandemic, maintain balance sheet strength and increase the resilience of our business.

“We delivered strong financial and operating performance through the first 10 weeks of the year with base operations and growth initiatives on-track with our plan,” said Bob Espey, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Covid-19 paused this momentum in mid-March, however, despite this and other economic headwinds, including a declining Canadian dollar and lower, more volatile commodity prices, our diverse business is proving resilient.”

“We entered this challenging period with a strong balance sheet and acted decisively to protect it. We removed over $300 million of capital expenditures from our 2020 plans and reduced our fixed and variable expenses,” added Espey. “I want to thank the Parkland team who are intensely focused on safely providing essential products and services to our customers and supporting our communities. These characteristics underpin our resilience and growth capabilities. I would also like to thank the refinery team for their hard work and for safely completing the turnaround in April.”

Our commitment to safety, customers and community

Parkland’s top priority is the safety of its employees, customers and communities and to reliably provide an essential service in the 25 countries we operate.

In response to Covid-19 and in-line with recommendations from local health authorities, enhanced operating procedures and protocols were instituted to maintain our sites to even higher levels of cleanliness. From rigorous sanitization and disinfecting protocols, plexiglass guards in our company-owned convenience stores and navigating global supply shortages to provide personal protective equipment to our front-line teams, we have, and will continue to put safety first.

Parkland’s retail and commercial brands remain trusted, integral parts of their communities. Consistent with our values, we have extended over $3.5 million of fuel discounts to front-line health care workers and first responders across Canada, the US and our International business through April. We are providing free hot showers, as well as food and snack discounts, to Canada’s truck-driving community at select company cardlock and convenience store locations. We will continue to monitor the needs of our customers and communities and remain committed to providing safe and reliable services and giving back to those in need.

Q1 2020 Segment Highlights

Supply

Operations were focused on the safe and successful execution of the Burnaby refinery turnaround and continued performance from our integrated logistics operations. Our supply team reliably sourced and maintained uninterrupted fuel supply for our customers during the turnaround. We advanced our US supply business through the expansion of our Houston office operations and saw strong organic growth in wholesale volumes. First quarter highlights include:

• Due to the Burnaby refinery turnaround which began on February 1, 2020, Adjusted EBITDA was $39 million; a decrease of $104 million relative to 2019.
• As a result of the planned turnaround, refinery utilization was 30.9 percent.
• Invested $55 million of capital and $27 million of operating costs on the turnaround. The additional operating expenses were mostly offset by lower fuel, catalyst and chemical costs while the plant was shut down.

Canada

We have combined Canada Retail and Canada Commercial into one “Canada” segment to align with our US and International segment reporting and to reflect the operational accountability of our Canadian leadership team.

Our Canadian business performed well through the quarter. We gained momentum on our growth initiatives through the first 10 weeks but experienced a pause in mid-March due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We delivered our 17^th consecutive quarter of Company C-Store same-store-sales growth (”SSSG”), progressed the national roll out of our JOURNIE™ Rewards program and developed our network through On-the-Run (”OTR”) conversions and New to Industry (”NTI”) sites. In addition, we grew our industrial propane market share and benefited from the high-grading of our commercial customer base in 2019.  First quarter highlights include:

• Adjusted EBITDA of $103 million, a decrease of $14 million relative to 2019. The decrease was driven by lower retail fuel margins in the first part of the quarter, a warmer winter heating season and lower volume demand in the second half of March due to Covid-19.
• Fuel and petroleum product volume of 2.4 billion litres, a decrease of 6 percent relative to 2019. The business saw strong growth early in the year but was offset by weakness in March due to Covid-19.
• Company C-Store SSSG of 0.4 percent, our 17th consecutive quarter of positive C-store SSSG despite weakening sales in the latter half of March due to Covid-19.
• Company volume SSSG of negative 4.3 percent. Company volume was trending well through the first 10 weeks of the quarter relative to 2019 but decreased in March due to Covid-19.
• Commenced the national launch of JOURNIE™ Rewards in January 2020 with CIBC as our strategic banking partner. Initial results remain encouraging with strong membership acquisition and engagement. Due to reduced site traffic and additional preventative safety measures as a result of Covid-19, we deferred our national roll-out strategy and marketing campaigns until the economy improves. For more information on JOURNIE™ and how to become a registered member please visit www.journie.ca.

International

Our International business had a strong start to the year, benefiting from organic growth initiatives, supply synergies and a robust tourist industry. We continued to benefit from strength in our wholesale channel and marine bunkering business which resulted from new customer wins and the collaboration with our Tropic Oil operations in Florida. This momentum paused in mid-March due to Covid-19 which led to a decline in fuel demand and lower supply margins. First quarter highlights include:

• Adjusted EBITDA of $67 million, a decrease of $4 million relative to 2019. The decrease was driven by demand reductions in March due to Covid-19 and margin pressure due to commodity price volatility.
• Fuel and petroleum product volume of 1.4 billion litres, an increase of 31 percent relative to 2019, consisting of 406 million litres sold through retail channels and 990 million litres sold through commercial and wholesale channels.

USA

Our USA business had a strong quarter with improved operational efficiency and significant growth excluding the impact of M&A. We closed our previously announced acquisition of Kellerstrass Oil in mid-February, bringing 84 new dealer locations and expanding our presence in Idaho, Wyoming and northern Utah. Our recent acquisitions have exceeded investment case to date, and in particular, Tropic Oil has driven strong organic growth and also benefited our International business. We saw a volume decline in mid-March due to the Covid-19 pandemic which was offset by strength in retail and marine fuel margins.  First quarter highlights include:

• Adjusted EBITDA of $18 million, an increase of $7 million relative to 2019. The increase was primarily due to our 2019 acquisitions, organic growth and strong retail and marine fuel margins.
• Fuel and petroleum product volume was 634 million litres, up 92 percent relative to 2019.

Corporate

The Corporate segment includes centralized administrative services and expenses incurred to support operations. First quarter highlights include:

• Marketing, General and Administrative (”MG&A”) costs were flat relative to 2019, at $27 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA of negative $36 million, which includes MG&A costs and a loss on US dollar debt repayments resulting from the significant decline in the USD/CAD exchange rate during the quarter.
• As a percentage of total adjusted gross profit, marketing, general and administrative expenses increased to 4.6 percent (up from 3.9 percent in 2019).

Consolidated Financial Overview

(1) Measure of segment profit. See Section 12 of this MD&A.
(2) For comparative purposes, information for the three months ended March 31, 2019 was restated due to a change in segment presentation. Canada Retail and Canada Commercial, formerly presented separately as individual segments, are now combined as the Canada segment, reflecting a change in organizational structure in the first quarter of 2020.
(3) Non-GAAP financial measure. See Section 12 of this MD&A.
(4) Calculated using the weighted average number of common shares.
(5)  2020 and 2019 results reflect the adoption of IFRS 16 as of January 1, 2019. 2018 comparative figures reflect the accounting standards in effect for that year and are not restated to reflect the impact of IFRS 16, as is allowed under the modified retrospective approach for IFRS 16 adoption.
(6) Amounts presented on a trailing-twelve-month (”TTM”) basis
(7) Beginning in Q1 2020, Parkland includes Adjusted EBITDA attributable to NCI and excludes IFRS 16 impact attributable to NCI in Credit Facility EBITDA and includes long term debt attributable to NCI, letters of credit attributable to NCI and cash and cash equivalents attributable to NCI in Senior Funded Debt and Total Funded Debt. The 2019 and 2018 numbers have not been adjusted.

Update on Covid-19 business impacts

The duration and impact of Covid-19 is difficult to forecast, however, it has already led to significantly reduced global economic activity and fuel demand. Based on our own conservative demand and economic recovery model, we took immediate action to protect our business and financial strength, and enhance our resilience to position the Company to emerge stronger.

• Canada segment volumes have declined approximately 35 percent in April relative to 2019, consisting of an approximate 40 percent decline in retail gasoline volumes and 25 percent in commercial and other volume. Rural markets have been less impacted than major urban centers and key supply chains have remained open for trucking traffic.
• US segment volumes have declined approximately 20 percent in April relative to 2019, excluding the impact of acquisitions, consisting of an approximate 20 percent decline in wholesale and commercial volume and 35 percent in US retail gasoline volume. The US segment has fewer major urban centers in our areas of operations and a higher commercial weighting of the portfolio.
• International segment on-shore volumes have declined approximately 40 percent in April relative to 2019, consisting of an approximate 25 percent decline in the commercial lines of business and 55 percent in the retail line of business. Many countries in the International segment have extensive curfew measures and higher exposure to tourist activity.
• The impact of the volume declines has been partially offset by generally stronger fuel margins (per litre) in April. This benefit has been most pronounced in the US, followed by our Canada segment, and less so in our International segment.
• Convenience store sales in Canada are marginally down in April relative to 2019. Tobacco, alcohol and household essentials have performed well, while confectionery items and car wash traffic have declined along with the temporary suspension of frozen and hot beverage offerings and fresh food service. We have altered our merchandising strategy where appropriate to prioritize higher demand categories and our teams have done a great job at keeping shelves merchandised.
• Refinery utilization as of May 6, 2020 is approximately 75 percent, which accounts for lower fuel demand in locally served markets. Based on the current refinery throughput, we have been able to reduce jet fuel to less than 10 percent of output. We will continue to optimize utilization rates going forward based on demand projections.
• Despite the current economic slowdown and reduction to our 2020 capital program, there are several high return initiatives we are focused on in the interim such as the integration of recent acquisitions and enhancing our digital capability and back-office systems. These initiatives will allow us to resume our growth programs when the economy improves.

2020 Capital Program Guidance

On March 30, 2020, Parkland reduced its guidance for 2020 Total Capital expenditures to $275 million +/- 5%, a reduction of $300 million. This reduction is consistent with our priority to maintain financial flexibility and balance sheet strength. The capital expenditures included in the reduction can be deferred until an improvement in the current economic environment. Further detail can be found in our press release dated March 30, 2020 and in the Q1 2020 MD&A.

Conference Call and Webcast Details

Parkland will host a webcast and conference call on Thursday, May 7 at 6:30am MDT (8:30am EDT) to discuss the results.

To listen to the live webcast and watch the presentation, please use the following link:

https://produceredition.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1302735&tp_key=014a45b92e

Analysts and institutional investors interested in participating in the question and answer session of the conference call may do so by calling 1-888-390-0605 (toll-free) (Conference ID: 14261230). International participants can call 1-587-880-2171 (toll) (Conference ID: 14261230).

Please connect and log in approximately 10 minutes before the beginning of the call.

The webcast will be available for replay two hours after the conference call ends at the link above. It will remain available for one year and will also be posted to www.parkland.ca.

MD&A and Consolidated Financial Statements

The Q1 2020 MD&A and Q1 2020 FS provide a detailed explanation of Parkland’s operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2020. An English version of these documents will be available online at www.parkland.ca and SEDAR after the results are released by newswire under Parkland’s profile at www.sedar.com. French Financial Statements and MD&A will be posted to www.parkland.ca and SEDAR as soon as they become available.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking information and statements (collectively, “forward-looking statements”). When used in this news release the words “expect”, “will”, “could”, “would”, “believe”, “continue”, “pursue” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements with respect to, among other things, business objectives, estimated 2020 capital expenditures, the ongoing launch of the JOURNIE™ Rewards loyalty program, expected Burnaby refinery utilization rates, and Parkland’s ability to quickly resume growth strategy when economic conditions improve. Additionally, this press release contains certain preliminary April results to illustrate the impact COVID-19 has had on our business. These numbers are preliminary, subject to finalization and quarter end accounting procedures and do not constitute guidance.

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. No assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release. Parkland does not undertake any obligations to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements except as required by securities law. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of numerous risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, general economic, market and business conditions, including the duration and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic; industry capacity; competitive action by other companies; refining and marketing margins; the ability of suppliers to meet commitments; actions by governmental authorities and other regulators including but not limited to increases in taxes or restricted access to markets; changes and developments in environmental and other regulations; and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of Parkland. See also the risks and uncertainties described in “Forward-Looking Information” and “Risk Factors” included in the Q1 2020 MD&A dated May 6, 2020, filed on SEDAR and available on the Parkland website at www.parkland.ca. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This news release refers to certain non-GAAP financial measures that are not determined in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (”IFRS”). Distributable cash flow, distributable cash flow per share, adjusted distributable cash flow, adjusted distributable cash flow per share, total funded debt to credit facility EBITDA ratio, dividend payout ratio and adjusted dividend payout ratio are not measures recognized under IFRS and do not have standardized meanings prescribed by IFRS. Management considers these to be important supplemental measures of Parkland’s performance and believes these measures are frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of companies in our industry. See Section 12 of the Q1 2020 MD&A for a discussion of non-GAAP measures and their reconciliations to the nearest applicable IFRS measure.

Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted gross profit are measures of segment profit. See Section 12 of the Q1 2020 MD&A and Note 20 of the Q1 2020 FS for a reconciliation of these measures of segment profit. Investors are encouraged to evaluate each measure and the reasons Parkland considers it appropriate for supplemental analysis.

In addition to non-GAAP financial measures, Parkland uses a number of operational KPIs to measure the success of our strategic objectives and to set variable compensation targets for employees. These KPIs are not accounting measures, do not have comparable IFRS measures, and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers, as other issuers may calculate these metrics differently. See Section 12 of the Q1 2020 MD&A for further details.

Investors are cautioned that these measures should not be construed as an alternative to net earnings determined in accordance with IFRS as an indication of Parkland’s performance.

Effective January 1, 2019, Parkland adopted the new accounting standard, IFRS 16 – Leases (”IFRS 16″). The adoption of IFRS 16 has a significant effect on Parkland’s reported results. Due to Parkland’s selected transition method, it has not restated its prior year comparatives. Certain financial statement measures are presented excluding the impact of IFRS 16 (”Pre-IFRS 16 measures”).

About Parkland Fuel Corporation

Parkland is an independent supplier and marketer of fuel and petroleum products and a leading convenience store operator. Parkland services customers across Canada, the United States, the Caribbean region and the Americas through three channels: Retail, Commercial and Wholesale. Parkland optimizes its fuel supply across these three channels by operating and leveraging a growing portfolio of supply relationships and storage infrastructure. Parkland provides trusted and locally relevant fuel brands and convenience store offerings in the communities it serves.

Parkland creates value for shareholders by focusing on its proven strategy of growing organically, realizing a supply advantage and acquiring prudently and integrating successfully. At the core of our strategy are our people, as well as our values of safety, integrity, community and respect, which are embraced across our organization.