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PRTH: Open Seven To Eleven by Glenn
Wilkins - AllPennyStocks.com News Reporter
March 22, 2006 (AllPennyStocks.com Media, Inc.) - Much
disparaged though it is, the convenience store is a phenomenon
of North American society, much like drive-in movie theatres,
paper towels and motor hotels. Twenty-four-hour marts, selling
every little thing from snacks to razor blades to paperbacks,
are a conspicuous part of the landscape, here to stay, and
promising profits to those who manage those stores
competently.
A company that aggressively buys, operates and grows
convenience stores is Missouri-based Prime Time Group, which
is currently making its reputation by growing 7-Eleven stores
in Puerto Rico, currently 14 in all, Prime Time just recently
having purchased Puerto Rico-7 for the avowed purpose of
planting more such convenience stores on the island.
Recent developments within the industry have shown why
Prime Time Group, which trades under the symbol; PRTH, has had
to take this pedal-to-the-medal approach. A rival, North
Carolina-based company; The Pantry, Inc., which covers the
southeastern states, had more than 1,400 stores in its
fiefdom, with net sales of more than $4.4 billion during
fiscal 2005 (all figures in U.S. funds unless specified
otherwise) under the Golden Gallon, Kangaroo Express and
Cowboys banner. Bargain seekers to the company’s stock may
have missed the boat, for The Pantry’s stock (PRTY) ballooned
from $4 to $60 in just three years.
One advantage PRTH may still have is its relatively low per
share price. We’ll have more on that as the report wears on.
But back to this company, and 7-Eleven, which opens a new
store every five hours or so, to add to the 28,000 the chain
now operates worldwide, with more than 25 million customers
served on a regular basis, most notably those living in Japan,
Taiwan and Thailand. Net store sales during 2004 were $41
billion, making 7-Eleven far and away the kingpin. One of the
main coups PRTH has achieved of late is the green light from
7-Eleven to become the company’s exclusive area licensee in
Puerto Rico and assume the operation of the existing 7-Eleven
stores already there.
One of the markets of the world that has been scarcely
tapped, Puerto Rico’s economy is a vibrant one, with all
sectors experiencing explosive growth over the last few years,
with no signs of abating. Population of the entire island has
topped four million, with 1.7 million in just the San Juan
area. The dozen or so stores Prime Time already operates
grossed $17.5 million in revenues, and, with each store
pulling in more than $100,000 monthly, that figure is
projected to swell to upwards of $300 million once Prime
Time’s expansion goals have been met for the island.
Solid management has to underpin these ambitious expansion
plans. President and CEO Johnny Ray Arnold brings 21 years of
experience in the convenience store business, having built the
Road Runner Food Mart chain to prominence. Road Runner was
sold in the late 1980s to Total Petroleum. Andres Romero, VP
and Chief Operating Officer, has been with 7-Eleven, and has
been among the prime movers behind the company’s licensing
agreement in Puerto Rico, where PRTH hopes will fuel future
growth.
Mid-April will provide a date that is being circled most
anxiously. For that is when Prime Time’s affiliate, Puerto
Rico-7 Inc. will have completed its audit, one that promises
sales of more than $18 million, or a better-than-nine-per-cent
hike over the same period of fiscal 2004. Arnold has gone on
record as saying the audit’s completion represents one more
step in its plan to fully reporting company and its desire to
be listed on the American Stock Exchange.
For now, PRTH’s stock price is in the lower region of a
52-week range that saw a peak of 57 cents last September,
dipping down to a trough of 14 cents shortly before last
Christmas. Late March saw the price around the 30-cent mark,
still well below the towering prices exhibited by rival The
Pantry.
A look at the fortunes and ambitious projections, in Puerto
Rico alone, should build a bright picture for Prime Time Group
as a stock worthy of inclusion. It should at least be
considered… convenient, to look over.
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