Viva Energy announced the results of its 2025 Annual General Meeting on 20 May.
Viva Energy CEO Scott Wyatt said: “As (Chairman Robert Hill) has touched on, we are in the midst of a major transformation of our various businesses. The development of our convenience business together with the investment in our Energy Hub are substantial programs that are well underway, while our Commercial business continues to extend operations into the segments and deliver sustainable growth. These programs remain a key focus for the company in 2025, and I will come to this after reviewing our results for FY2024.
“Viva Energy delivered approximately $750 million of EBITDA, on a replaceable cost basis, during FY2024. This was up 5% on FY2023, supported by strong sales growth in our Commercial business and higher crude intake due to lower levels of maintenance and improved operating performance in our Refinery.
“Group sales grew by 4% to nearly 17 billion litres in 2024, with Viva Energy now supplying more than 25% of Australia’s liquid energy needs. This market leading position is underpinned by high quality positions and deep relationships with customers across a wide range of sectors. It is a sustained position which has been achieved progressively over many years on the back of an unwavering customer focus, unique strategic assets and infrastructure, and the amazing contributions from our people,” he said.
“Despite the challenging retail trading environment, fuel sales in our company-controlled retail network grew by 0.5% on a pro-forma basis, with convenience sales excluding tobacco up 2% on the prior year. Earnings of $231M in our Convenience business were broadly in line with FY2023, with growth impacted by low sales growth, illicit tobacco, cost escalation, and higher carrying costs through a period of transition,” said Mr Wyatt.
“Since completing the OTR acquisition we have successfully stood up systems to bring together our various retail businesses and as I stand here today, we are now operating a single unified retail business with a focus shifting from transition to delivery, with momentum building in every aspect of our retail strategy.
“EBITDA (RC) in our Commercial business increased by 5% to $470 million in FY2024, its fourth consecutive year of earnings growth. On a pro forma basis sales volumes were up 5% driven by strong demand from the Aviation, Resources, Agriculture and Defence sector, with the newly acquired OTR Wholesale business further strengthening our Liberty Rural proposition,” he said.
“Over the last year we have entered the marine market in Brisbane, further built our relationship with Defence, expanded our Aviation operations to more than 90 airfields, and supported a wide range of initiatives to help customers with their energy transition. This includes supplying Sustainable Aviation Fuel to the Department of Defence and Virgin Australia, the delivery of renewable diesel to an international cruise ship operator, and the completion of our first hydrogen refuelling station. These are early but important steps in supporting our customers with lower-carbon solutions.
“Our Refining business delivered EBITDA (RC) of $94 million in FY2024, increasing by 44% over the prior year due to lower levels of maintenance and improved operating performance. Weak regional refining margins in the second half negatively impacted earnings, and while this environment persists into 2025, we are beginning to see some strengthening as global trade tensions settle and the outlook for global oil demand improves,” said Mr Wyatt.
“We are making good progress on the implementation of Ultra Low Sulphur Fuel and expect to commence production in early October to support the transition to new fuel specifications in mid-December. Preparations for the major maintenance of our Residue Cat Cracking Unit in Q3 this year are also progressing well. With both these projects behind us, we will enter a period of lower capital expenditure in our refining business from 2026.We will continue to take a disciplined approach to capital investment and shareholder returns.
“For FY2024, we declared a final dividend of 3.87 cents per share, representing a payout of 66% of Group NPAT.
“I would like to spend a few moments talking more about the progress we have made in our Convenience business and then the priorities for the year ahead,” he said.
“As I mentioned earlier, we have now stood up systems and processes which set us up to operate as a single, unified retail business. We have moved off the Coles Transitional Services Agreement, transitioned fuel supply to the OTR network to Viva Energy supply and consolidated our retail head office functions.
“As a consequence, we are now beginning to capture the significant synergies that were anticipated from the merger of our retail businesses, which are expected to deliver $30M in the second half of 2025, building to $90M in 2027 as we consolidate convenience supply chains and transition off the Product Supply Agreement with Coles next year,” said Mr Wyatt.
“Given the soft retail trading environment, we are taking additional steps to reduce operating costs in our Convenience business and in our corporate offices and expect this to deliver at least $50 million of cost reductions in addition to the synergies mentioned earlier, predominantly through the second half of the year.
“With these foundations now set, we will move from a period of transition to the delivery of our longer term retail plans in the second half of this year. As Robert mentioned earlier, we are moving forward quickly with our store conversion program. We are commencing the conversion of ten stores this quarter, and have a program of conversions and store openings which will see the OTR brand and offer extended to between 40 and 60 stores over the rest of 2025. Most of these will be in NSW to optimise supply chain efficiencies, but also to focus on markets where we have the greatest opportunity for growth,” he said.
“I look forward to providing an update on the performance of these early conversions and the convenience business more generally when we deliver our first half results in August.
“In closing, I would like to thank our shareholders for their support and the Viva Energy team for the contributions they are making to the transformation of our business and for what we have achieved so far.
“We have 15,000 people working across the country, with the vast majority in customer facing and operational roles. The service they provide customers in safely delivering on their expectations and helping them reach their destination is exceptional and critical to our success. Their enthusiasm for what we aspire to achieve is tangible and we are collectively excited about what’s ahead,” said Mr Wyatt.
“Finally, I would like to acknowledge some changes to my Executive Team. Bill Patterson was appointed Executive General Manager of the Geelong Refinery, transitioning Dale Cooper whom we thank for his valuable contribution during his time in the role. Bill has held senior roles across Australia, Oman, and Singapore, and most recently led Viva Energy’s Liberty Rural business as CEO.
“Amanda Fleming, our Chief Digital and Transformation Officer, who is leaving the Company after a significant contribution over more than five years, will be succeeded by Debbie Browning who will join us in July to accelerate our digital transformation. Debbie joins us with extensive technology and digital experience, as well as relevant experience in deploying technology strategies in Retail, B2C and Energy environments,” he said.
