Corporate shakeup frees Speedway gas chain for independence

Oct. 31-- Oct. 31--The Dayton-Springfield area will soon become home not only to a new publicly traded company headquarters, but the base of the largest U.S.-operated chain of convenience stores.

A leadership shakeup at Marathon Petroleum will speed Enon-based gas station chain Speedway LLC on its way to corporate independence.

Gary Heminger, chairman and chief executive of Findlay-based Marathon Petroleum Corp., is retiring, the company announced Thursday, and concurrently, the company also said that Speedway will become a separate, publicly traded company.

A flurry of press releases Thursday morning announced not only a series of leadership transitions, but third quarter 2019 results and the Speedway chain's foray into independence.

"Today's announcement to separate Speedway will create a new independent company that is well-positioned to achieve sustained growth and create substantial shareholder value," Heminger said in one release Thursday. "We have built Speedway into an exceptional business. Over the past eight years we have grown Speedway nearly four-fold from roughly $400 million of annual EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) to approximately $1.5 billion."

Heminger has been chairman and CEO since 2016.

National news reports, citing unnamed sources in recent days, have said Marathon Petroleum may spin Speedway off to independence -- an idea that company leaders have considered and rejected in the past.

The Wall Street Journal and others have reported that "activist shareholders" at Marathon, including Elliott Management Corp., have been discussing a spinoff of the gas station chain.

Also Thursday, the company announced that Gregory Goff, executive vice chairman of Marathon Petroleum (MPC), will retire effective Dec. 31, 2019. Michael Hennigan, current president of MPLX GP LLC, has been appointed chief executive of the same organization, effective Nov. 1, 2019, the company also said.

Marathon said it had net income of $1.66 per share for the third quarter of 2019. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, reached $1.63 per share. Both measures beat Wall Street's expectations.

Company leaders will discuss quarterly results and other news in an earnings call this morning at 9:30.

Marathon Petroleum operates what it says is the nation's largest refining system with more than three million barrels per day of crude oil capacity across 16 refineries.

Speedway LLC is an MPC subsidiary, consisting of retail convenience stores across the United States.