Viva Energy recorded an uptick in convenience sales for the first half, but the steep drop in tobacco sales still weighed down the overall number.
For the six months ended June 30, convenience sales, excluding tobacco, increased 1.3 per cent year-on-year. This was supported by increased customer visits and expansion of third-party delivery offers (Uber Eats and DoorDash) across the store network.
Tobacco sales were down 16.8 per cent compared with last year’s first half but remain flat compared with the second half. Because of this, overall convenience sales for the period were down 3.8 per cent $803 million.
Convenience fuel sales volumes grew 2.4 per cent thanks to retail fuel availability and competitive pricing. Convenience gross margin was unchanged at 37.7 per cent.
The company continued to make progress on integrating the OTR and Reddy Express networks. The FlyBuys loyalty program was extended to include the OTR branded network in the second quarter, providing a uniform loyalty offer across the Shell branded company-owned network.
New convenience supply distribution centres were established in Victoria and Queensland, with NSW expected to be operational in the near future. The company remains on track to complete the rollout and exit the Coles product supply arrangement by the end of FY26.
Total group sales volumes, which include the commercial and industrial segment, rose 1.5 per cent to $8.49 billion.
“The first half of this year was shaped by geo-political events which have caused significant disruption across the global energy markets,” said CEO Scott Wyatt.
“Our strong financial results reflect a substantially improved refining margin environment which has been driven by a regional shortage of oil supply and refining capacity, as well as improving retail sales growth and continuing strength of our commercial businesses,” he added.
Net debt at June 30 was approximately $1.7 billion, down from $2.1 billion as at December 31.
The company expects its unaudited EBITDA for the first half to be approximately $770 to 780 million, up from $305 million a year ago.
