Half Year 2026 Viva Energy Group Limited Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- Record earnings in the first half of 2026, driven by strong performances across all business units, including a substantial improvement in refining margins.
- Net debt reduced significantly from $2.1 billion to $1.7 billion, strengthening the balance sheet and improving gearing to 1.5 times.
- Interim dividend increased to $0.0773 per share, representing a 70% payout ratio, at the top end of the company's policy.
- Commercial business delivered exceptional performance with sales volumes up to 5.9 billion liters and underlying EBITDA of around $250 million, benefiting from advantageous term supply arrangements.
- Retail convenience and mobility business showed a material improvement, with EBITDA increasing to $139 million from $74 million, driven by higher fuel sales and stronger margins.
- Progress on the retail supply chain rollout, with distribution capability established across the Eastern seaboard and on track to exit the Coles product supply agreement by November 2026.
- Government fuel security reforms and refining retention policy discussions present opportunities for long-term investment certainty and potential growth in infrastructure.
- A significant process safety incident in April resulted in a fire within the gasoline complex, leading to elevated operating costs and a temporary reduction in refinery production capacity.
- Refinery production is expected to remain above 90% of normal capacity but not at 100%, impacting overall output and margins due to the loss of the alkylation unit.
- Retail fuel margins in July and August were lower, partly due to an excise reduction passed through to customers and increased market competition.
- Convenience sales declined year-on-year due to continued tobacco sales decline, although stable over a 12-month period.
- Operating costs in the refining segment were elevated due to measures taken to stabilize operations and recover from the fire, with expectations for moderation but not immediate normalization.
- The company faces uncertainty regarding the renewal of the Vitol supply agreement in 2028 and the Shell brand license in 2029, which could impact future supply chain and branding strategies.
- The government's proposed minimum stockholding obligations (MSOs) could impose additional costs on the business, requiring careful navigation to recover costs from the market.
Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Viva Energy Australia half-year results 2026 conference call. (Operator Instructions)
I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Scott Wyatt, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.
Good morning, and thank you for joining us to discuss our 2026 first-half results.
With me on the call is Carolyn Pedic, our Chief Financial Officer; Denis Urtizberea, our EGM of Commercial; Jennifer Gray, our Chief Strategy Officer; and Teresa Rendo, our new Retail CEO.
On the call, Carolyn and I will share the group results, while Jen and Teresa will provide more commentary on our retail convenience businesses and then Denis will be available to answer any questions around commercial.
As foreshadowed in our quarterly trading update, we've delivered a record earnings this half, supported with strong performances in all of our business units. These results reflect a substantially
| Access to All Earning Calls and Stock Analysis | |
| 30-Year Financial on one screen | |
| All-in-one Stock Screener with unlimited filters | |
| Customizable Stock Dashboard | |
| Real Time Insider Trading Transactions | |
| 8,000+ Institutional investors’ 13F holdings | |
| Powerful Excel Add-in and Google sheets Add-on | |
| All data downloadable | |
| Quick customer support | |
| And much more... |
Trustpilot
We'd love to learn more about your experiences on GuruFocus.com and how we can improve!
Take Survey
