Advance Auto Parts

Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (Advance) is an American automotive aftermarket parts provider. Headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, it serves both professional installer and do-it-yourself (DIY) customers. As of July 13, 2019, Advance operated 4,912 stores and 150 Worldpac branches in the United States and Canada. The Company also serves 1,250 independently owned Carquest branded stores across these locations in addition to Mexico, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos and British Virgin Islands. The company's stores and branches offer a broad selection of brand name, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and private label automotive replacement parts, accessories, batteries and maintenance items for domestic and imported cars, vans, sport utility vehicles and light and heavy duty trucks.

Advance Auto Parts, Inc.
TypePublic
IndustryAuto Parts Retail
FoundedApril 29, 1932 (1932-04-29)
FounderArthur Taubman
HeadquartersRaleigh, North Carolina, U.S.
Number of locations
4,912 Advance Stores, 150 Worldpac branches and serves 1,250 independently owned Carquest branded stores (as of July 13, 2019)
Area served
United States Canada
Key people
Jeffrey C. Smith
Chair, Board of Directors
Tom Greco (CEO, President)
Jeff Shepherd (CFO)
ProductsReplacement automotive parts & accessories
Revenue US$9.6 Billion (FY 2018)[1]
US$604.3 Million (FY 2018)[1]
US$424 Million (FY 2018)[1]
Total assets US$9.04 Billion (FY 2018)[1]
Total equity US$3.7 Billion (FY 2018)[1]
OwnerInstitutional Owners
Vanguard Group Inc (10.25%)
BlackRock Fund Advisors (5.18%)
Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss (4.47%)
State Street Corp (4.43%)
Starboard Value LP (4.36%)
Number of employees
70,000+[2] (2018)
Subsidiaries
  • Autopart International
  • Carquest
    • Carquest Canada
  • WorldPac
    • WorldPac Canada
    • WorldPac Redline
WebsiteAdvanceAutoParts.com

History
2006-2010 Chevrolet HHR used as the fleet vehicle of the company.

In April 1932,[3] Arthur Taubman purchased the Advance Stores from Pep Boys, with two stores in Roanoke, Virginia and one in Lynchburg, Virginia.

The first major expansion of Advance Auto Parts was in 1998 when the company acquired the remaining operations of Western Auto, an auto parts and general store retailer. Most of the Western Auto operations had been taken over by Sears, Roebuck and Co. in 1987.[4]

In April 2001, Advance Auto Parts acquired Carport Auto Parts, a regional retail chain with 29 stores in Alabama and Mississippi.[5][6] On November 28, Advance acquired Discount Auto Parts, Inc., a regional auto parts chain with 671 stores in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisiana.[7][8] Upon completion of this merger, Advance Auto Parts became a publicly traded company, listed as a common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AAP. The year ended with 2,484 stores in 38 states.

Interior of an Advance Auto Parts store in Fairfax County, Virginia

In July 2002, Advance Auto Parts received bankruptcy court approval to acquire 57 Trak Auto stores in northern Virginia, Washington, DC, and eastern Maryland.[9][10] In December 2012, Advance Auto Parts acquired BWP Distributors, a Carquest franchise for the New England region that included the transfer of 124 company owned retail locations plus 2 distribution centers.[11][12] The responsibility for 92 independently owned location that were service by BWP were transferred to General Parts, Inc., the largest Carquest franchise along with one distribution center for servicing those locations.

On October 16, 2013, Advance Auto Parts entered into a definitive agreement to acquire General Parts International, Inc. (GPI), a leading privately held distributor and supplier of original equipment and aftermarket replacement products for commercial markets operating under the CARQUEST and WORLDPAC brands.[13][14] The deal created the largest automotive aftermarket parts[15] provider in North America.

General Parts International, with corporate headquarters in Raleigh, NC, has seen a significant rise in personnel since being acquired by Advance.[16] Most of these added jobs are personnel from Roanoke, Minnesota or between the now redundant GPI positions being transferred to Raleigh.

On September 30, 2015, Starboard Value LP, an activist investment firm disclosed a 3.7 percent stake in Advance Auto Parts. Through a letter to Chief Executive Darren Jackson and a keynote presentation published on Starboard's website, Starboard Values believes that Advance Auto Parts shares have the potential to reach $350 each if the company takes steps to improve profit margins. The presentation also stated that "Advance Auto Parts has substantially underperformed compared to peers on almost any measure, including operating margins, revenue growth, and total shareholder return."[17] Roanoke, Virginia-based Advance Auto's sales have missed market expectations in four of the past six quarters.[17] Starboard Value LP was behind the ouster of the entire board of restaurant operator Darden Restaurants Inc last year, owners of the Red Lobster/Olive Garden restaurants.[18] Effective January 2, 2016, Darren Jackson elected to resign his position as CEO.[19] On April 4, 2016, Advance announced Frito-Lay North America CEO Tom Greco would succeed Jackson as CEO. While Advance stock declined throughout 2016 and 2017, the stock has seen a strong recovery as the company's five-year transformation plan progresses. In 2018, Advance was the #4 top performing stock of the S&P 500[20] outperforming the aftermarket automotive parts industry by more than 30 percent.[21]

In October 2018, Advance and Walmart announced a strategic omnichannel partnership that will create an automotive specialty store on Walmart.com.[22]

In November 2018, Advance Auto Parts announced the relocation of its headquarters from Roanoke, Virginia to Raleigh, North Carolina. The state of North Carolina and Advance Auto Parts agreed on a $12 million incentive package for this relocation.[23]

On December 23, 2019, it was announced that Advance Auto Parts would be purchasing the DieHard battery brand from Sears. The deal was a $200 million all cash deal.[24] To promote the acquisition and availability of the brand at Advance and Carquest, Advance hired actor Bruce Willis to be part of a promotional film in-character as John McClane from the film Die Hard, which was released during the 2020 holiday season.[25]

Motorsports

From 2009 to 2013, Advance Auto Parts was a title sponsor of Monster Jam and sponsored a truck on the circuit called the Advance Auto Parts Grinder.

Advance Auto Parts has also served as a sponsor in NASCAR, where it is the official auto parts retailer of the sanctioning body.[26] In 2017, the company sponsored the Advance Auto Parts Clash exhibition race at Daytona International Speedway,[27] while it became the title sponsor of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series in 2020.[26] Advance Auto Parts has also partnered with individual teams, such as appearing on Alex Bowman's cars in 2015 and 2016 with Tommy Baldwin Racing and JR Motorsports, respectively.[28][29]

In December 2016, it was announced that Advance would be the primary sponsor of NHRA Funny Car driver Courtney Force, the winningest female Funny Car driver in the history. The multi-year sponsorship began with the 2017 Circle K NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, California, and ran through the entire 2017 and 2018 seasons.[30] Courtney Force announced she was stepping away from drag racing in January 2019 and later it was announced that her sister, Brittany Force, and her Top Fuel dragster would be sponsored by Advance for the 2019 NHRA season.[31]

Ownership

As of 2018, Advance Auto Parts shares are mainly held by institutional investors like The Vanguard Group, BlackRock, State Street Corporation, and others.[32]

Recognition

Advance premiered on the Fortune 500 list of companies in 2003 at No. 466 and has remained on the list since that time, including ranking No. 326 on the 2019 list.[33]

As of June 2014, it was ranked at No. 1,412 on the Forbes "World's Biggest Public Companies" list. Soon after, Advance Auto Parts was bumped to 2nd largest automotive aftermarket retailer by competitor, AutoZone, and has held that that position as of July 2018.[34]

In January 2005, Advanced was named the “Best Managed Company in America” in the retail sector by Forbes magazine.[35] This recognition was part of the annual Forbes Platinum 400 list of top-performing big corporations. The best-managed companies are those businesses that top the rankings in 26 different industries.

See also

References
  1. "Advance Auto Parts Inc (AAP) 10K Annual Reports & 10Q SEC Filings". Last10K.
  2. "Annual Report | Advance Auto Parts". annual-report.advanceauto.us.
  3. "Advance Auto Parts Corporate Site - Service Is Our Best Part". AdvanceAutoParts.com. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  4. "Sears Is Selling Its Western Auto Supply Unit". Los Angeles Times. August 18, 1998.
  5. "Carport will be sold to Advance Auto Parts". Tuscaloosa News. March 16, 2001. p. B7.
  6. "Advance Auto Parts to Acquire Carport Auto Parts Stores". PRNewswire. March 15, 2001.
  7. "Discount Auto May Lose 70 Stores; Advance Auto may close the stores as part of its merger". Lakeland Ledger. January 23, 2002. p. E1.
  8. "Discount Auto shareholders approve Advance merger". Tampa Bay Business Journal. November 30, 2001.
  9. "Advance Auto Buys 55 Stores". Roanoke Times. July 24, 2002. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
  10. "Advance Auto Parts to Acquire Trak Auto Parts Stores in Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, and Eastern Maryland Markets" (Press release). Advance Auto Parts. July 23, 2002. Archived from the original on July 14, 2012. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
  11. "Advance Auto Parts Announces Closing of Acquisition of BWP Distributors". Reuters. December 31, 2012.
  12. "Advance Auto Parts Announces Acquisition Of BWP Distributors". AftermarketNews. December 19, 2012.
  13. Snipes, Cameron (December 16, 2013). "Year in Review: Sloan sells Raleigh's General Parts for $2 billion". Triangle Business Journals.
  14. Jaisinghani, Sagarika (October 16, 2013). "Advance Auto expands repair shop business with $2 billion buy". Reuters.
  15. "Auto Parts Store". Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  16. WRAL. "Advance Auto Parts to create 600 jobs in Raleigh". WRAL.com. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  17. Reuters Editorial (September 30, 2015). "Starboard takes stake in Advance Auto, urges changes". Reuters. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  18. Christopher Boyd and Lisa Baertlein (October 10, 2014). "Darden activist ousts Olive Garden owner's full board". Reuters. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  19. Amanda Hoyle (November 12, 2015). "Activist investor Starboard Value shakes up leadership at Advance Auto Parts, CEO Darren Jackson to step down - Triangle Business Journal". Triangle Business Journal. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  20. Vena, Danny (January 18, 2019). "The 5 Top-Performing S&P 500 Stocks of 2018 -". The Motley Fool. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
  21. "4 Reasons to Add Advance Auto Parts to Your Portfolio Now". NASDAQ.com. December 28, 2018. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
  22. "Advance Auto Parts Inc. - Investor Relations - Press Release". phx.corporate-ir.net. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
  23. N.C.), Zachery Eanes The News & Observer (Raleigh. "Advance Auto Parts receives $12M to relocate corporate HQ to Raleigh". The Courier-Tribune.
  24. Thomas, Lauren (December 23, 2019). "Advance Auto Parts to buy DieHard brand from Sears for $200 million in cash deal". CNBC. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  25. Adams, Peter (October 19, 2020). "Bruce Willis reprises 'Die Hard' role in Advance Auto Parts ads pushing DieHard batteries". Marketing Dive. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  26. "Advance Auto Parts to sponsor NASCAR Weekly Series in multiyear agreement". NASCAR (Press release). June 10, 2020. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  27. Menzer, Joe (January 18, 2017). "Advance Auto Parts steps up to sponsor Clash exhibition at Daytona". Foxsports.com. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  28. "ALEX BOWMAN TO CARRY ADVANCE AUTO PARTS ON THE NO.7 CHEVY SS AT KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY FOR QUAKER STATE 400". Tommy Baldwin Racing. July 1, 2015. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  29. "JR Motorsports Welcomes Advance Auto Parts for 2016". JR Motorsports. February 15, 2016. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  30. "Advance Auto Parts signs multi-year sponsor relationship to back Courtney Force". NHRA. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  31. "NHRA: Brittany Force to assume her sister's Advance Auto Parts sponsorship". sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  32. "Advance Auto Parts Inc (AAP) Ownership Summary". NASDAQ.com.
  33. "Advance Auto Parts". Fortune. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  34. Bruce Adams, Search Autoparts.com Aftermarket Business World. Published 4/25/17, pulled 8/17/18.
  35. "Advance Auto Parts Inc. - Investor Relations - Press Release". phx.corporate-ir.net. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
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