VIVA CEO SCOTT WYATT ROLLING OUT EV CHARGERS AT HIS OWN PACE

Viva Energy CEO Scott Wyatt says the fuel retailer’s cautious approach to rolling out electric vehicle charging across the group’s petrol and convenience store sites is validated by the faltering growth in EV uptake.

Mr Wyatt said Viva would grow its EV fast-charging sites in tandem with upgrades to its convenience stores, as it rolls out the On the Run retail formatnationally on sites currently trading as Coles Express, as well as new ones.

Viva paid $1.2 billion for the South Australian-based OTR Group this year.

Viva CEO Scott Wyatt at an On the Run petrol station convenience store in Moonee Ponds, Melbourne.  Louis Trerise

It is initially focusing on NSW – where the state government has provided a grant to encourage the expansion of charging infrastructure, spanning about 30 sites over the next 18 months to road test the format – and nationally after that.

Larger petrol retailing rival Ampol had aimed to triple its fast charging network from 92 bays across 41 sites to about 300 bays by the end of the calendar year, but chief executive Matt Halliday said last week local distribution network bottlenecks had forced a rethink on the aggressive schedule.

Mr Wyatt said it made sense to combine the rollout of fast chargers with convenience store upgrades over the next five years because it cost less to combine the projects, and EV owners typically spend up to 30 minutes on site.

Solar panels and batteries would also make the chargers less dependent on having sufficient voltage in the network.

“We want to invest sensibly and invest in parallel with the convenience offer,” Mr Wyatt said.

“I think that – from an infrastructure point of view – probably best reflects the logical takeup of EVs over that time as well.”

Viva Energy cut its interim dividend by a fifth to 6.7¢ a share as it battled cost of living pressures on the expanded convenience store network to lift core net profit 10.3 per cent to $192.1 million in the half ended June 30.

The company operates the Shell national chain of petrol stations and lifted sales 13 per cent to $14.4 billion.

But the convenience stores battled cost of living pressures and illegal tobacco sales: same-store sales slipped 5 per cent including the OTR assets, while tobacco sales fell 17 per cent.

Mr Wyatt expects conditions to remain tough for the rest of the year, but interest rate cuts should boost consumer spending when they arrive.

Convenience store earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) – which Viva is staking its retail future on as petrol vehicles are gradually replaced by EVs – slipped 1.3 per cent to $122 million.

Viva foreshadowed the lacklustre performance in an operating update a month ago.

Group fuel volumes increased 6 per cent to 8.3 billion litres, including 5.9 billion litres from commercial and industrial fuel sales.

EBITDA from commercial and industrial fuel sales crept up just 2.9 per cent to $237.9 million on a replacement cost basis.

EBITDA from refining jumped five-fold to $112.4 million as volumes recovered.

Interim group EBITDA was up 25 per cent to $451.7 million while statutory net profit was $80 million – a big turnaround from a $77.5 million loss in the first half of 2022-23, which was affected by writedowns.

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