But it’s definitely possible that the existing gas station infrastructure could evolve into the refueling infrastructure of the future. Already there has been considerable work in how to convert gas stations to hydrogen refueling stations, for example. The oil and gas industry is making significant investments in the technologies to make this transition possible, and a number of hydrogen stations have been constructed. (To learn more about where the industry is investing for our energy future, read America’s Oil and Natural Gas Industry -Putting Earnings into Perspective, 2009.) As the major energy companies own only about 10 percent of the gas stations in the U.S., there will be many small businesses that will be involved in this transition.

Initially, the demand for hydrogen fuel can probably be addressed by a few hydrogen producers that transport fuel by truck to a small network of refueling stations. In fact, there are several suppliers delivering now to a reasonably broad geographic coverage. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has an excellent interactive map of the U.S. showing hydrogen and alternative fuel locations in the U.S. Unfortunately, the current cost of delivering hydrogen fuel ranges from 5 to 10 times that of gasoline, and quantities are limited.

So the challenge going forward will be to expand production and distribution, while reducing cost. The “desired state” would be for small networks of refueling stations to be supplied by pipeline. Eventually larger production facilities would be built to service urban areas. This transition may occur over 25 years, says industry expert Carl Nemanich, in The Transition to Hydrogen as a Fuel, from the proceedings of a workshop sponsored by The Pew Center on Global Climate Change and the National Commission on Energy Policy.

Hydrogen is just one of a number of alternative fuels that may become commercially viable and available at a refueling station; we’re now well familiar with E85, but others include biodiesel, compressed natural gas, electricity and propane. Adding any of these alternative fuels to the mix will represent a significant capital investment. In anticipation, gas station owners and suppliers are learning about technical and financial requirements at association meetings and conferences so that they’ll be prepared to implement the most promising fuels as the market develops.

While the media serves up amazing news of alternative energy developments — such as today’s story on a new hydrogen storage method that uses carbonized chicken feather fibers — we still are a long way from seeing alternative fuels replace fossil fuels. (Read this report by American Petroleum Institute about U.S. energy demand growth and fossil fuels through 2030.)

In the interim, our current gas station infrastructure will continue to supply us, while gas station owners and suppliers concentrate on strengthening their businesses, given the tough economic environment.

Author: Tricia Morley

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1) Do you think now is a good time to invest in buying more petroleum properties?
Absolutely.   (80.00%)
I’m interested.   (20.00%)
I’m going to sit on the fence a while longer.   (0.00%)
No way.   (0.00%)

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The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued FASB Statement No. 13 Accounting for Leases (SFAS No. 13) to address the differences between these two types of financing.  SFAS No. 13 creates standards for financial accounting and reporting for leases by lessees and lessors.

For lessees, a lease is a financing transaction that becomes a “capital lease” (purchase/sale agreement) if it meets any one of four specified criteria; if not, it is an operating lease (usage or rental agreement). Capital leases are deemed as the acquisition of assets and the incurrence of obligations by the lessee.  Operating leases are treated as current operating expenses.

There are situations that can affect these guidelines but generally, FASB 13 states that a lease will be considered a capital lease if one or more of the following four criteria are met. If none of the following applies, the lease is then treated as an operating lease:
- The lease automatically transfers ownership of the property to the lessee by the end of the lease.
- The lease contains a bargain purchase option (usually 10% or less is considered a bargain).
- The lease term equals 75% or more of the estimated economic life of the property (determined by the IRS depreciation tables).
- The present value of the minimum lease payments (excluding that portion of the payments representing executory costs such as insurance, maintenance, and taxes to be paid by the lessor, including any profit thereon) equals or exceeds 90% of the excess of the fair value of the leased property to the lessor.  The leased property is recorded at the total cost net of interest expense (the present value at the inception of the lease).

The fourth point is often the most difficult to determine.  The lessee must know its incremental borrowing rate to calculate the 90% present value measurement.  One must understand that the rate (and term) that the lessee typically borrows from its bank for most assets may not be the same as the bank would provide for this particular leased asset.  The Lessee’s Incremental Borrowing Rate is defined as:  The “rate that, at the inception of the lease, the lessee would have incurred to borrow over a similar term the funds necessary to purchase the leased asset.”
The property user should calculate the present value of the guaranteed payment stream using its true incremental borrowing rate (not the rate of the lease).  If the borrower is obligated to make 48 payments of $1,000 (factoring in if the payments are to be made in advance or arrears, usually with a lease, it is in advance) and had an 8.5% incremental borrowing rate, the present value of that payment stream is $40,858.12.  The property must cost $45,398 or more at the lease’s inception (and, of course, none of the other three conditions have been met) for this to be given operating lease treatment by FASB.

If it is important to have operating lease treatment, an experienced lessor should be able to help a lessee achieve this goal.  If the lessor cannot, then they are unwilling to take sufficient risk on the property’s residual value (meaning that they feel that the property will not be worth much at the end of the lease so, in essence, you might as well pursue a loan or “$1-out” lease with this lessor).  If the lessor specializes in this type of property and has been in the industry for some length of time you should respect their opinion, if they are not familiar with this type of property, the lender may fear overestimating the residual value at lease termination and being underwater on their investment.

A well structured operating lease may be in the best interest of many property users, but entities should understand how FASB will view their property acquisition before they enter into any lease.

Author: Ted Smith

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For 2008,  while the total number of stores (in the U.S.) dropped one percent, total industry sales rose more than 8 percent and industry pre-tax profits rose 54 percent.
If you remove fuel sales, store sales still increased 3.2 percent. And while total fuel gallons dropped 2.4 percent, average selling price per gallon grew 16.1 percent. Fuel represented 75 percent of total stores sales contribution, but only 32 percent of total growth margin dollar contribution.

CSP TV recorded a video highlighting key points here.

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The advantage of equipment leasing is that it makes expensive items more affordable for the business owner, or lessee, and enables him to take advantage of tax laws that allow expensing of the equipment’s lease payment (faster depreciation, in essence, than with a purchase or traditional loan). The incredible flexibility of these leases can make equipment acquisitions much easier.

The equipment lender, or lessor, should be able to provide more attractive financing than a bank because he understands the secondary market of the equipment and know how to profitably dispose of the item at the end of the lease. The higher value the lessor expects for the equipment at the end of the lease subsidizes the payments for the lessee during the term. Until recently a lessee could return the equipment to the lessor at the end of the term with no penalties, and no questions asked.

Many of today’s “leases” though are barely leases at all, as far as the lessor is concerned. They make the structure of the lease so one-sided that virtually all of the risk, aside from collecting payments, is passed off to the lessee. Increasingly lessors are ratcheting down their risk as far as the anticipated value of the equipment at the end of the lease. What had been their forte — and what made some lessors more successful in a particular niche — is being replaced by lengthy verbiage.

This trend started when newer lessors began to compensate for lack of industry knowledge with contractual language that leveled the playing field. By doing so, they appeared to offer similar terms to the established firms — but the fine print revealed that the end-of-term options were far less accommodating to the lessee. The period of time that the lessee has to notify the lessor of their end-of-term decision (purchase, return, renew the lease, etc.) has shortened. The rules stipulating condition and location of the equipment and its peripherals (in one case, allegedly, even the box, packing and user’s manual) upon return became more onerous.

When considering an equipment lease, it is important to know the six main components of the transaction.
- Present value (the price of the equipment, less the down payment, trade-in, etc. (Do not deduct your advance payment[s])
- Monthly payment amount
- Number of payments
- Future value (the stated price you will pay at the end-of-term if you decide to buy the equipment, demand a specific dollar amount as opposed to a percentage)
- Interest rate. If you know the above factors, you can determine the interest rate. We can suggest this lease calculator to help with the calculation.
- Requirements for returning the equipment at the end of the lease. Make sure you completely understand the requirements, and that you believe them to be reasonable. If there is a penalty to return the equipment, it should be included in the future value number of the interest rate equation.

A fair lease should have a specific dollar amount buyout, a reasonable return option, a stated renewal rate with short term, and a reasonable period of time for the lessee to notify the lessor. Be wary of unusual or unnecessary terms. Some leases require additional insurance coverage, for example.

Above all, read the contract carefully before you sign. Our viewpoint is, if the document is too long for the average layman, or worded in such a fashion that it’s difficult to understand, it is probably not worth signing.

Keep in mind that it’s to the benefit of the lessor if the lessee forgets to advise of their end-of-lease choice within the stipulated notification period. The lessor can then continue to bill the customer indefinitely.

Equipment leasing is most suitable for relatively low-cost, high tech items that will become obsolete and may need to be replaced on a regular basis. Leasing “big ticket” items, such as pumps, tanks and canopies, may have a significant impact on the gas station or convenience store owner’s ability to get a commercial loan or mortgage at a later date.

Author: Ted Smith

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In its February 2009 issue, CSP magazine published an article titled Brave New World  that addresses the upheaval in the national economy and its impact on the Convenience & Gas industry.

For the small independent operator, the message is clear – opportunity will abound in 2009-10 for those who are prepared. Major oil companies are selling gas station sites, industry consolidators are buying gas station chains and flipping sites to dealers, and operators that are selling their gas stations are having to accept less. Sale prices are returning to more traditional levels – where sites used to sell for 5x to 7x EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, Amortization), they are now selling for 4x to 5x.

What does the independent operator need to do to position himself for acquisitions? As we’ve described previously in this blog post, cash will be the determining factor. Higher down payments – 30% or more – may be required to obtain financing. Finding a lender will be difficult, but operators with strong business plans, strong resumes, and professionally prepared financial statements will have a better chance. For more information, see our recent entries on Looking for financing? Wondering what lenders look for? , How lenders evaluate your gas station business, and What are the steps to approval for your gas station loan?

The CSP article focused on these key factors in obtaining a commercial loan for your gas station/c-store business:

Credit sources will be scarce. This will drive creative financing and attract a new breed of lenders. With the current lack of national lenders, local and regional banks will only be able to absorb so much of the demand. New sources of capital from overseas and non-traditional lenders will be complemented by seller financing, mezzanine structures (multiple lenders) and sale/leaseback.

The industry ‘power center’ will shift toward super-jobbers and industry consolidators, as major oil companies reduce their ownership of retail assets. Jobbers will continue to grow, acquiring not only major-oil chains, but also smaller competitors. With jobbers taking control, the old DTW pricing structure will gradually give way to rack-plus pricing, leveling the playing field for dealers in many markets.

Small operators will see new opportunities. Where the majors and the super-jobbers are buying and selling whole markets, they won’t keep every site they buy, either due to operating parameters or because the jobber needs to stabilize their capital base. In order to keep the supply contract for these sites, the jobber will sell them only to independent operators.

Petrobanc Finance believes that now is the time to establish strong relationships with growth-oriented jobbers and financial institutions, as you prepare your own organization for growth.

Author: Kevin Morley

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This is not because lenders don’t like your business. It’s because it’s difficult to reach an independent owner/operator.  Mass advertising is too expensive, given the relatively small number of customers being targeted.  Direct mail, phone calls, or visits to the station rarely reach the owner. 

So if lenders aren’t coming to you, and you want to find financing, how do you start?  The best sources are referrals from jobbers, industry brokers, customer references, local or regional trade shows, or the internet.  And of course, the bank where you currently do business.

Local banks usually have limited capacity for loans into one industry segment.  If yours can’t help you, then the best place to start is to ask your jobber and fellow owner/operators who they borrow from.  The advantage here is twofold.  First it identifies a lender who has shown a willingness to lend to the C&G (Convenience & Gas) industry and probably knows your market.  Second, there’s an implicit recommendation for you as a good operator – particularly if your jobber refers you.

Brokers can be helpful in the right situation – see our recent posting on using a broker.  Trade shows have seen a decline in attendance by financial institutions – it’s unlikely that any will be at trade shows during 2009! 

Which brings us to the Internet – a search method increasingly popular for finding financing.  With all things on the Internet, you’ll want to take the standard precautions regarding security of your confidential information.  You’ll also want to make sure you know who you’re talking to.

If you do a search using key words or phrases like “Gas Station Financing”, or “Gas Station Loans”, you’ll come up with a wide assortment of results.  In general, the results can be divided into 1) real banks, 2) specialty finance companies, 3) mortgage brokers, and 4) hard money lenders.  It’s not always easy to tell the difference.

Banks  Some of the search results will be real banks.  Not many these days, and you’ll probably recognize the names as either local or regional brands.  If you’re not sure, take the name and do a separate search on it – you should get enough information to figure out if it’s a true bank.

Specialty Finance Companies  These entities have their own funds for lending and, like a bank, have no middle-men asking for additional fees.  In all probability, they will keep the loan on their books and service it for a period of time after funding. Petrobanc Finance is a specialty finance company.

Brokers  It may not always be obvious from the homepage of the website if an entity is a broker, a bank, or a specialty finance company.  They may be ‘captive’ brokers, originating loans for only a few financial entities, such as insurance companies, or they may ‘shop the loan’ to a variety of lenders.  The key is that there will be a separate set of fees, they do not control the decision making on loan commitments, and they will not service the loan after funding.

Hard Money Lenders  These may be similar to Specialty Finance companies in that they lend their own money and service the loan.  However, these are essentially hedge funds looking for high returns.  They focus on very short-term loans (one to three years) at rates 5% or more above average.  They require very little documentation and move quickly.  But it’s very expensive money and should be used as a last resort only.

Author: Kevin Morley 

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According to the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), 62 percent of all gas stations in the U.S. are owned by single-site operators (see the NACS factsheet). If you only own one gas station, getting a million-dollar mortgage is not something you do every day, and can seem to be a daunting task.  The urge to seek professional help is understandable.

A good broker can help you organize your documents, analyze the data and anticipate questions from the lender about potential weak spots in your business, and they will shop the loan with numerous lenders for the best deal.  But how do you know if you’re talking to a successful broker?

Ask for a list of successful deals.  You should focus on deals done after mid-2008 – when the credit meltdown started.  Anybody could get a deal funded in 2007, regardless of their ability.  If the broker successfully closed a deal during the first quarter of 2009, he’s probably a pretty good broker with strong contacts in the financial world.

Ask to see a ‘loan-package’ for a previous deal.  Successful brokers will create binders with tabs for each document group.  Judge it for organization, clarity of writing, and completeness (see our recent entries on Looking for financing? Wondering what lenders look for? and Financing your gas station in today’s tough market.)  Also, ask to see a list of the bank quotes received for each deal.  This will tell if they actually shopped the deal, or took the first offer available.

If you elect to use a broker, here’s some advice:

Beware of non-refundable fees paid up front.  Up-front fees should be minimal – just enough to cover their expenses in preparing a package and shopping it to their list of financial contacts.

Have your attorney review any contract the broker wants to sign.  Items to think carefully about include a request for exclusivity and for how long, confidentiality of your documents, fee structures, and refunds for non-performance.  You may want to limit the broker’s ability to shop your deal through other brokers, as this may mean your confidential data will be spread all over the internet.

Know what a broker can and can’t do for you.  A broker cannot give you a guaranteed commitment for funding.  This can only come from the finance company, and will be addressed in writing from them to you.  Neither can a broker do everything for you.  The lender will want to talk to you.  Especially in today’s tough credit environment, lenders will want to get a sense of how well you understand your business. They will probably visit your site to observe its quality first-hand.

Having read this, you might ask if you really need a broker.  The answer depends on how much you think your time is worth, your ability to present your business (in the way we’ve described in other posts), and in your ability to find a lender that will work with you.  Keep in mind that regardless of today’s market conditions, lenders will want your business if you’re a good operator, and will work with you in much the same way a broker will. 

Author: Kevin Morley

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The primary analysis will involve cash flow. The first thing the analyst will look at is a cash flow calculation.  Many banks will use different formulas but they all basically are looking to evaluate the same thing which is how much cash does the business generate.  More specifically, how much cash is generated by the station as a ratio of the loan payment for the anticipated loan.  The main question is whether the station generates enough money to pay back the loan with enough left to satisfy the borrower’s needs.  The financial instituition will most likely use a conservative approach to create cushion in the event of a downturn.

As you’ve probably surmised, underwriting is as much an art as a science.  While rules exist regarding minimums for these financial ratios, the underwriters’ judgment plays a role in determining the specific calculations.

For example, a classic judgment call involves “add-backs”.  These are expense items shown in a borrower’s financial statements that may not be recurring items.  Therefore, the analyst has to determine whether to adjust the calculation of cash flow by adding back the particular expense.   A significant loss by theft, documented by a police report, might fall into this category.  There may also be one time gains that will be deducted or situations that are not typical and these will be considered also.

Another judgment call might involve adjusting sales and revenue for loss due to road construction.  For example, a 3-month construction of a turning lane in front of a station might cut sales 50 percent during that period.  The analyst will determine the extent to which the financial statements will be adjusted to compensate for the event.  It will help if a stabilization period of three to six months has elapsed before applying for the loan, allowing new sales and financial data to support the past-period adjustment.

So the lesson to be learned here is: the quality of your financial reporting is critical. From the lender’s perspective, better financial data increase the underwriter’s ability to make the judgments necessary to qualify the borrower and the site for the loan.

Read our related post, What are the steps to approval of your gas station loan?

Author: Scott Poulsen

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