Casey's General Stores (CASY) 8-K Casey’s Reports Strong Sales for the Third Quarter

Exhibit 99.1

NEWS RELEASEFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Casey’s General Stores, Inc.	Nasdaq Symbol CASY
One Convenience Blvd.	CONTACT BILL WALLJASPER
Ankeny, IA 50021	(515) 965-6505

Casey’s Reports Strong Sales for the Third Quarter

Ankeny, Iowa, March 8, 2006—Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (Nasdaq symbol CASY) today reported $0.14 in earnings per share from continuing operations for the third quarter of fiscal 2006 ended January 31, 2006 compared with $0.15 for the same quarter a year ago. Year to date, earnings from continuing operations were $1.02 per share compared with $0.70 for the same period of fiscal 2005. Chairman and CEO Ronald M. Lamb stated, “All three of our business categories delivered strong sales, giving us a 26.3% increase in total sales to $2.6 billion for the year to date.” Gross profit for the nine months increased 16.4% to $402 million.

Gasoline—The Company’s annual goal is to increase same-store gasoline gallons sold 2% with an average margin of 10.5 cents per gallon. Same-store gallons sold rose 4.2% in the third quarter, bringing the year-to-date increase to 5.7%. Lamb shared this analysis: “We are very pleased with our third quarter sales gain, achieved primarily because of unseasonably warm weather and advancements in our distribution system. The competitive retail environment resulted in an average margin of 9 cents per gallon for the quarter; the margin came to 11.6 cents for the nine months.”

Grocery & Other Merchandise—The annual goal is to increase same-store sales 3% with an average margin of 31.5%. Third quarter same-store sales were up 5.3%, bringing the year-to-date increase to 6.1%. Lamb said, “We benefited from greater store traffic due to the lottery and our use of point-of-sale data to create a better match between product mix and customer demand.” The average margin for the quarter was 31%; for the nine months it was 32.1%, above goal.

Prepared Food & Fountain—The Company exceeded the annual goal of increasing same-store sales 5.5% with an average margin of 60.5% for both the quarter and the nine months. Third quarter same-store sales were up 9.9% with a margin of 62.5%; year-to-date same-store sales were up 7.4% with a margin of 63.7%. Gross profit gains were driven by improvements in category management, reduction of stales, and a more favorable cost of cheese. “Cheese is the most expensive ingredient in our prepared food program,” added Lamb. “To stabilize the future cost, we recently negotiated a forward buy that locked in the cheese price through December of 2006.”

Operating Expenses—Casey’s is on target for meeting its annual goal of holding the percentage increase in operating expenses to less than the percentage increase in gross profit despite higher operating expenses in the third quarter. Operating expenses rose 12.8% while gross profit increased 8.7%. Year to date, operating expenses were up 11.6% and gross profit rose 16.4%. Lamb stated, “Higher retail gas prices in the third quarter led to higher bank charges because of the increasing size and volume of customer credit card charges.”

Expansion—In its January 9, 2006 press release, the Company announced it had completed the definitive asset purchase agreement to acquire 51 stores from Gas ‘N Shop Inc., would close up to 11 of the locations, and would rebrand the remaining stores to Casey’s General Stores within approximately six weeks. Lamb reported, “We began operating 20 of the stores in January and nearly all of the rest in February. We expect all of the stores to be accretive within their first full year of operation.” The Company’s annual goal is to acquire 30 stores (in addition to the Gas ‘N Shop acquisition) and to build 10 new stores. At January 31, 2006, Casey’s had built 10 stores and had acquired 17 stores.

At its March 2, 2006 meeting, the Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.045 per share. The dividend is payable May 15, 2006 to shareholders of record on May 1, 2006.

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                            Casey’s General Stores, Inc.                     Consolidated Statements of Earnings                                          (Unaudited)         (Dollars in thousands, except per share amounts)

	Three months ended January 31,					Nine months ended January 31,
	2006		2005			2006			2005
Net sales	$	802,788	$	652,865		$	2,631,201		$	2,082,718
Franchise revenue		164		232			524			862
Total revenue		802,952		653,097			2,631,725			2,083,580
Cost of goods sold		685,175		544,706			2,229,209			1,737,302
Operating expenses		91,420		81,079			274,400			245,818
Depreciation and amortization		14,136		12,999			42,516			38,014
Interest, net		2,087		2,812			6,328			8,183
		792,818		641,596			2,552,453			2,029,317
Earnings from continuing operations before income taxes and cumulative effect of accounting change		10,134		11,501			79,272			54,263
Federal and state income taxes		3,121		4,140			27,781			19,333
Earnings from continuing operations before cumulative effect of accounting change		7,013		7,361			51,491			34,930
Loss on discontinued operations, net of tax benefit of $34, $2,754, $178, and $3,051		60		4,895			317			5,519
Cumulative effect of accounting change, net of tax benefit of $639		—		—			1,136			—
Net earnings	$	6,953	$	2,466		$	50,038		$	29,411
Basic
Earnings from continuing operations before cumulative effect of accounting change	$	.14	$	.15		$	1.02		$	.70
Loss on discontinued operations		—		(.10	)		(.01	)		(.11	)
Cumulative effect of accounting change		—		—			(.02	)		—
Net earnings	$	.14	$	.05		$	.99		$	.59
Diluted
Earnings from continuing operations before cumulative effect of accounting change	$	.14	$	.15		$	1.02		$	.70
Loss on discontinued operations		—		(.10	)		(.01	)		(.11	)
Cumulative effect of accounting change		—		—			(.02	)		—
Net earnings	$	.14	$	.05		$	.99		$	.59

Casey’s General Stores, Inc.

Consolidated Balance Sheets

(Dollars in thousands)

(Unaudited)

	January 31, 2006		April 30, 2005
Assets
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	$	23,951	$	49,051
Receivables		6,881		7,481
Inventories		91,321		75,392
Prepaid expenses		8,090		4,579
Income taxes receivable		9,362		5,927
Total current assets		139,605		142,430
Other assets, net of amortization		16,127		5,567
Property and equipment, net of accumulated depreciation January 31, 2006 $479,289 April 30, 2005 $447,197		777,659		722,912
Total assets	$	933,391	$	870,909
Liabilities and Shareholders’ Equity
Current liabilities
Note payable	$	2,300	$	—
Current maturities of long-term debt		53,546		27,636
Accounts payable		93,559		100,640
Accrued expenses		51,230		41,851
Total current liabilities		200,635		170,127
Long-term debt, net of current maturities		110,720		123,064
Deferred income taxes		100,028		102,039
Deferred compensation		7,146		6,542
Total liabilities		418,529		401,772
Total shareholders’ equity		514,862		469,137
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	$	933,391	$	870,909

Certain statements in this news release, including any discussion of management expectations for future periods, constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by those statements. Casey’s disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Sales and Gross Profit by Product

(Amounts in thousands)

Nine months ended 1/31/06	Gasoline			Grocery & Other Merchandise			Prepared Food & Fountain			Other			Total
Sales	$	1,854,074		$	592,828		$	171,905		$	12,394		$	2,631,201
Gross profit	$	96,293		$	190,355		$	109,506		$	5,838		$	401,992
Margin		5.2	%		32.1	%		63.7	%		47.1	%		15.3	%
Gasoline gallons		833,107
Nine months ended 1/31/05
Sales	$	1,371,434		$	541,881		$	153,801		$	15,602		$	2,082,718
Gross profit	$	80,951		$	169,289		$	92,478		$	2,698		$	345,416
Margin		5.9	%		31.2	%		60.1	%		17.3	%		16.6	%
Gasoline gallons		764,302

Gasoline Gallons

Same-store Sales Growth

	Q1		Q2		Q3		Q4		Fiscal Year
F2006	7.7	%	4.3	%	4.2	%
F2005	-1.3		1.0		2.8		5.6	%	1.9	%
F2004	6.4		3.4		0.7		1.7		3.1
F2003	-5.5		-5.1		-4.4		4.1		-3.0

Gasoline Margin

(Cents per gallon)

	Q1		Q2		Q3		Q4		Fiscal Year
F2006	11.7	¢	13.9	¢	9.0	¢
F2005	11.9		9.7		10.2		10.8	¢	10.7	¢
F2004	9.8		11.9		9.1		9.5		10.1
F2003	9.9		11.7		11.9		10.5		11.0

Grocery & Other Merchandise

Same-store Sales Growth

	Q1		Q2		Q3		Q4		Fiscal Year
F2006	7.4	%	4.5	%	5.3	%
F2005	2.1		4.8		6.8		6.3	%	4.8	%
F2004	0.6		-0.5		-1.2		2.8		0.4
F2003	4.2		0.8		-3.1		-1.9		0.2

Grocery & Other Merchandise

Margin

	Q1		Q2		Q3		Q4		Fiscal Year
F2006	32.0	%	33.2	%	31.0	%
F2005	31.4		31.0		31.4		30.0	%	30.9	%
F2004	31.7		32.5		31.1		29.3		31.2
F2003	31.3		33.1		30.8		31.5		31.7

Prepared Food & Fountain

Same-store Sales Growth

	Q1		Q2		Q3		Q4		Fiscal Year
F2006	7.2	%	4.5	%	9.9	%
F2005	6.1		9.0		9.0		9.8	%	8.4	%
F2004	5.8		4.1		4.5		7.6		5.5
F2003	2.8		2.0		-2.9		2.4		1.1

Prepared Food & Fountain

Margin

	Q1		Q2		Q3		Q4		Fiscal Year
F2006	64.0	%	64.6	%	62.5	%
F2005	58.8		60.5		61.2		61.0	%	60.3	%
F2004	60.9		62.9		60.4		58.6		60.7
F2003	59.2		60.2		60.4		58.2		59.5

Corporate Information is available at this Web site:http://www.caseys.com. Earnings will be reported during

a conference call on March 9, 2006. The call will be broadcast live over the Internet at 9:30 a.m. CST via the

Investor Relations section of our Web site and will be available in an archived format.