Viva to supersize returns from petrol stations

afr.com:

Fuels supplier Viva Energy is targeting nearly a 150 per cent jump in earnings from its convenience and fuels retailing business in five years, after paving the way for a huge expansion in convenience retailing that will also make it one of the country’s biggest employers.

The transformation under way in Viva’s retail arm, which will be further enhanced by the acquisition of the On The Run business awaiting competition approval, is already set to grow the group’s share of earnings from non-fuel products to about 36 per cent, from 15 per cent.

Viva CEO Scott Wyatt in Sydney after speaking to investors on Thursday. Dominic Lorrimer

Under the strategy outlined to investors on Thursday by chief executive Scott Wyatt, head count will surge to about 14,000 from about 1700 once the On The Run acquisition completes. That potentially rises to about 18,000, as the On The Run model is rolled out across the network, making Viva one of the country’s top-20 employers outside the government sector.

More than 7000 employees have been added since Viva’s buyout of Coles Express, a $300 million deal that completed on May 1.

“If in five years’ time we are having a discussion about whether we should drop ‘Energy’ from our name … then I think we’ll have been very successful and it would be a nice problem to have,” Mr Wyatt said of the change under way at the company.

“We’ll still be an important energy supplier… and a big contributor to energy security,” he added, with a nod to the slower transition to lower-carbon fuels in some major industries.

Shares in Viva, now owned 30 per cent by Dutch oil trading giant Vitol since a sell-down in September, rose 2.4 per cent at $2.96.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the