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Reuters
17 minutes ago
- Reuters
Ampol to buy EG Australia in $718.9 million deal
Aug 14 (Reuters) - Australia's Ampol ( opens new tab said on Thursday it would buy British fuel station operator EG Group's local unit, EG Australia, for a total of A$1.1 billion ($718.85 million) in a bid to strengthen its retail portfolio in the country. The fuel retailer would acquire EG Australia through A$800 million in cash, to be funded by existing debt, and Ampol shares valued at A$250 million, to be issued to EG Australia. Ampol has been actively acquiring fuel networks in recent years, including Z-Energy and SeaOil, although some assets such as Gull NZ were later divested. The deal would open the door for Ampol to acquire about 500 Ampol-branded company-owned and operated (COCO) sites and boost the company's retail growth. "The combined network will have greater scale and significant cost synergies that will support strong returns and earnings growth for our shareholders," Ampol Chairman Steven Gregg said. The deal is subject to approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Ampol said in a statement. The Australian Financial Review first reported the deal earlier in the day stating Ampol was in advanced talks to buy EG Group's Australian service station portfolio. ($1 = 1.5302 Australian dollars)
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Channel Nine makes a surprise move to slim down its footy coverage for one big reason - and here's why NRL fans are HAPPY about it
Channel Nine is set to scrap part of its NRL coverage for its upcoming Saturday night matches. According to Capital Brief, the broadcaster will not televise its post-game shows for the prime-time Saturday night slot for the next three weeks, starting with this weekend's clash between South Sydney and Parramatta. It comes as Nine revealed in June that the English Premier League will return to free-to-air television in Australia for the first time since 2019. Ahead of this weekend's opening round of Premier League fixtures, the broadcaster will curtail its coverage of the Rabbitohs clash against the Eels in order to televise Aston Villa 's season opener against Newcastle. Live coverage of Parramatta's clash against the Souths will finish right after kick-off at 9:25pm, with Nine set to switch straight to events unfolding at Villa Park. The news has delighted many Aussie sports fans, who had previously required a subscription to watch games on Optus Sport. Nine's coverage of the Souths game against the Eels will end earlier in order for the broadcaster to televise Aston Villa vs Newcastle Nine's streaming arm Stan Sport had acquired the rights from Optus Sport to stream all 380 Premier League matches for a fee of around $300million in June. The landmark move, which will continue for multiple seasons, though it is not certain how many free-to-air matches will be shown on Channel Nine. However, The Daily Telegraph claims that Nine's coverage of the Premier League will not impact this year's finals series. Some fans have hailed the move, with one writing on X: 'Good. The Premier League is a much better competition.' 'Post-match jibber is pretty boring. I normally turn off after two interviews.' One added: 'Who really cares if they drop the post-game dribbleathon!' Some, conversely, added: 'Love NRL, don't love EPL. Love this decision by Channel Nine.' Reflecting on Nine and Stan's acquisition of the Premier League, Nine chief executive officer Matt Stanton, explained the gravity of the move. 'The Premier League is the most-watched football league on the planet, and alongside the Emirates FA Cup, this acquisition reinforces Nine's position as the home of sport in Australia. 'We are proud to deliver these iconic competitions to Australian audiences through Stan Sport. 'The full power of Nine will be activated to bring new attention and energy to the Premier League and Emirates FA Cup. 'With more than 20 million Australians engaging with Nine's platforms every month, we have an unrivalled ability to generate excitement at scale, drive audience growth and deliver meaningful commercial outcomes for our partners.'
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Origin Energy CEO warns Australia's green shift costlier, slower than expected
SYDNEY, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Australia's top electricity and gas retailer Origin Energy ( opens new tab said its green transition was proving slower and more costly than expected, while flagging its coal plant could run beyond 2027. The company reported a 26% jump in full-year profit on Thursday from strong returns on its liquefied natural gas business. But CEO Frank Calabria said bringing on enough renewable energy to retire fossil fuels was a challenge. 'It is an enormous undertaking that's requiring a large amount of enabling infrastructure, including transmission, to be built,' Calabria told Reuters. 'The scale of it means that that's taking longer to get that in place. And also, it's certainly becoming more expensive along the way.' The Sydney-based company has been working to scale up investments in energy storage to prepare for the closure of its Eraring coal plant, the largest in Australia, in two years' time. It is targeting 4-5 gigawatts of renewables and storage by 2030, with 1.7 GW of battery projects underway, and on Thursday also reaffirmed its pledge for net zero emissions by 2050. Origin, which reported a rise in annual underlying profit to A$1.49 billion ($975.35 million) from $1.18 billion for the year ended June 30, said that timetable could now be reassessed. "Eraring is probably making a stronger contribution than we would have forecast three or four years ago, as the prices are sort of holding up. And really the renewable transition has slowed a bit,' Chief Financial Officer Tony Lucas said on an earnings call. Calabria said Origin needed adequate energy and enough burning capacity to retire coal, adding that Eraring could continue to run beyond 2027. "We don't want shocks to affordability, and we also want to achieve the emissions reduction," he said. The 2880-megawatt generator in Australia's east was originally due to close in 2025 before the New South Wales state government agreed in May last year to postpone the deadline, but it must close by 2029 at the latest. "It's probably value accretive for Origin," said Regal Funds Senior Energy Analyst James Hood. "If you're still making money from your coal-fired power station and you can handle the intraday spread, then you push out time periods where you need to remediate land and change the use of that site." Hood added the company could get a boost from its 23% stake in Octopus Energy, which is considering spinning off its Kraken software platform in a deal that British media say could be worth over $13 billion. 'A separation of Kraken and Octopus is important for us to achieve this year,' Calabria said, but added that it was 'too early' to discuss a possible IPO. Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were A$3.41 billion, down 3% as higher integrated gas earnings from LNG trading helped partially offset lower earnings in energy markets and Octopus Energy. The company declared a final dividend of 30 Australian cents a share, and shares closed at a 10-year high at A$12.59. ($1 = 1.5277 Australian dollars)
