MONTREAL - Convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard says it remains on the hunt for deals to grow its North American network a week after signing the largest acquisition deal in the company's history.

While its size in pockets of Quebec, Atlantic Canada and some U.S. markets may make further acquisitions in those areas difficult, Couche-Tard remains relatively small with a 20 per cent market share overall in the fragmented U.S., CEO Brian Hannasch said Tuesday.

"We think there's still a lot of runway in North America overall," he said during a conference call about the results of its fiscal first quarter.

The Quebec-based company that runs Couche-Tard, Mac's and Circle K convenience stores said its net profit grew almost nine per cent to US$324.4 million, despite a drop in revenues caused by lower fuel prices.

Excluding one-time items, Couche-Tard (TSX:ATD.B) earned US$328 million or 58 cents per share in adjusted profits. That compared with US$293 million or 51 cents per share in the first quarter of fiscal 2016.

Couche-Tard attributed the increased profit to higher fuel margins, continued growth of its existing network and acquisitions.

Revenues were US$8.4 billion, a 6.2 per cent decrease from almost US$9 billion a year ago.

Last week, Couche-Tard announced a US$4.4-billion friendly deal to buy Texas-based CST Brands that would make it the largest convenience store operator in Canada and the U.S.

Over the past year, it has announced four sizable deals in various parts of the world plus smaller transactions that will pressure its ability to integrate them into its network and find cost savings.

Chief financial officer Claude Tessier said the company's priority over the next 18 to 24 months will be to reduce its debt to be in a position to look at sizable acquisitions.

Still, Hannasch said Couche-Tard needs to focus more on internal growth.

"We know that needs to be a bigger and bigger piece of our story and that's very much the foundation for what we're doing around the brand."

Although investors perceive that Couche-Tard's growth is primarily fuelled by acquisitions, they contributed only 30 per cent of pre-tax operating earnings growth in the quarter, with 70 per cent coming from continuing operations, Irene Nattel of RBC Capital Markets wrote in a report.

Couche-Tard is expanding its fresh-food offering and adding more private label products including cigarettes, while also converting its global network outside of Quebec to the Circle K banner.

During the quarter, the company introduced its global Circle K brand to Europe with the conversion of nearly 250 stores from Statoil in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. It also converted 477 stores in North America.

Hannasch also said there are many new markets around the world, particularly in European and Asia, that it has studied and would enter under the right conditions.

Alimentation Couche-Tard has 7,863 convenience across North America and 2,708 across Scandinavia. In addition, more than 1,500 stores operate under the Circle K banner under licensing agreements in 13 countries around the world.

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News from © The Canadian Press, 2016