Latest news with #Ampol
Daily Telegraph
6 days ago
- Business
- Daily Telegraph
Ampol launches national petrol station portfolio across five states
Fuel retailer Ampol, previously called Caltex Australia, has put a national portfolio of 13 development sites up for sale following a review of its petrol station network. The portfolio – worth about $20 million plus – comprises three sites in Queensland, three sites in South Australia, four sites in Victoria, two sites in Western Australia and one in New South Wales. The sites range in size from just 1,265sqm – a commercial site in Tumbarumba, NSW, to up to 3073sqm in Gilles Plains, SA. Other locations include St Georges, Kearnys Spring and Portsmith in QLD, Stepney and Prospect in SA, Wangaratta, Portland, Euroa and Wendouree in VIC, and Katanning and Moora in WA. The nationally distributed portfolio comprises a mix of metropolitan and regional locations and comes with a range of zonings that will allow for varied development outcomes, including housing, fast food, service centres and retail development. Each site is strategically positioned with excellent road visibility and access, often in major traffic corridors or key urban intersections. 'This portfolio represents a rare opportunity to acquire well-located land in tightly held locations, whether for immediate development or strategic land banking,' Cushman & Wakefield's National Director and Head of Investment Sales Daniel Cullinane said. 'Given the scarcity of prime arterial sites and the continued strength of convenience retail and service-based assets, we expect this opportunity will appeal to developers seeking shovel-ready or strategically positioned projects, owner-occupiers chasing high-exposure sites, and investors looking to land bank quality real estate in growth corridors. 'All at a time when demand for prime metro and regional locations is being fuelled by infrastructure investment, population growth, and the ongoing push for last-mile and convenience-based solutions. It is understood Ampol had intended to develop the sites into future petrol stations with market sources estimating the portfolio's worth around $20m plus. Ampol last listed petrol station sites for sale in 2022, when it sold off 17 vacant sites from its national collection. Current properties for sale are as follows. QUEENSLAND 104 Victoria Street, St George Size: 3,041sqm 875 Ruthven Street, Kearnys Spring, Size: 2,133sqm 30-36 Kenny Street, Porsmith Size: 1,727sqm SOUTH AUSTRALIA 101 Magill Road, Stepney Size: 1,758sqm 204-208 Main North Road, Prospect Size: 2,992sqm 846-848 Grand Junction Road, Gilles Plains Size: 3,073sqm VICTORIA 79 Reid Street, Wangaratta Size: 1,933sqm 182 Percy Street, Portland Size: 1,628sqm 38-40 Clifton Street & 25 Lewis Street, Euroa Size: 2,625sqm 921 Howitt Street, Wendouree Size: 1,876sqm WESTERN AUSTRALIA 152-154 Clive Street, Katanning Size: 1701sqm 96 Gardiner Street, Moora Size: 1,770sqm NEW SOUTH WALES 150 Albury Street, Tumbarumba Size: 1,265sqm
NZ Autocar
22-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Autocar
New fuel brand U-GO drives down pump prices
Z Energy has launched a new self-service fuel brand. It offers Kiwis a low-cost alternative at the pump. Early signs suggest it's already shaking up the market, according to Autotalk. The company announced the launch of U-GO on March 20. It is a fuel-only station model that strips out extras like shops, loyalty programmes and fuel cards. It therefore delivers what it describes as a 'fast and convenient self-service model'. 'We are seeing an increasing number of Kiwis who want a simplified, low-cost fuel and go option,' Z customer general manager Andy Baird says. 'The U-GO network will help us meet these customers' needs. 'We've identified a small portion of our existing network where we believe a self-service fuel station would benefit our customers, and we are working to turn these into U-GO branded sites. 'This will allow us to provide a consistent offer under the one brand. U-Go here is similar to Ampol's self-serve fuel business in Australia. Ampol owns Z Energy. 'U-GO will bring greater competition into the self-service fuel retailer market in Aotearoa, and we think that's great news for Kiwis,' Baird says. The first U-GO site opened in April, with Z confirming more locations are in development. 'Launching U-GO is about acknowledging there is an opportunity to evolve our offers to meet a variety of customer needs. As we grow the U-GO network, our Z-branded network will remain strong. 'Both brands have distinctly different offers that will appeal to different customer bases,' Baird says. On May 19, the U-GO station in Waikaraka, Auckland, was listed as offering the lowest price for 91 octane petrol in the country. Gaspy reported pump price of $2.29.7 per litre. The emergence of U-GO comes as traditional low-cost players like Gull face stiffer competition. Gaspy data showed the price gap between the national average and Gull's average had narrowed in recent months. Some Auckland stations now offer nearly identical prices to U-GO. Z Energy says U-GO will remain focused on localised, competitive pricing as it expands its presence across the country.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Ampol Limited's (ASX:ALD) Recent Stock Performance Influenced By Its Fundamentals In Any Way?
Most readers would already be aware that Ampol's (ASX:ALD) stock increased significantly by 23% over the past month. We wonder if and what role the company's financials play in that price change as a company's long-term fundamentals usually dictate market outcomes. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Ampol's ROE today. Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits. Our free stock report includes 2 warning signs investors should be aware of before investing in Ampol. Read for free now. Return on equity can be calculated by using the formula: Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Ampol is: 4.9% = AU$176m ÷ AU$3.6b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2024). The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each A$1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made A$0.05 in profit. Check out our latest analysis for Ampol We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. Depending on how much of these profits the company reinvests or "retains", and how effectively it does so, we are then able to assess a company's earnings growth potential. Assuming everything else remains unchanged, the higher the ROE and profit retention, the higher the growth rate of a company compared to companies that don't necessarily bear these characteristics. When you first look at it, Ampol's ROE doesn't look that attractive. Yet, a closer study shows that the company's ROE is similar to the industry average of 4.9%. Looking at Ampol's exceptional 28% five-year net income growth in particular, we are definitely impressed. Given the slightly low ROE, it is likely that there could be some other aspects that are driving this growth. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently. As a next step, we compared Ampol's net income growth with the industry and found that the company has a similar growth figure when compared with the industry average growth rate of 34% in the same period. Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. Is Ampol fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide. The high three-year median payout ratio of 74% (implying that it keeps only 26% of profits) for Ampol suggests that the company's growth wasn't really hampered despite it returning most of the earnings to its shareholders. Besides, Ampol has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company over the next three years is expected to be approximately 77%. Still, forecasts suggest that Ampol's future ROE will rise to 16% even though the the company's payout ratio is not expected to change by much. Overall, we feel that Ampol certainly does have some positive factors to consider. While no doubt its earnings growth is pretty substantial, we do feel that the reinvestment rate is pretty low, meaning, the earnings growth number could have been significantly higher had the company been retaining more of its profits. We also studied the latest analyst forecasts and found that the company's earnings growth is expected be similar to its current growth rate. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts for the company. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
RNZ News
13-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
What went wrong for Flick?
The wholesale electricity market has been plagued with problems since Z bought Flick in 2018. Photo: 123RF When it launched in 2014, Flick Energy was something innovative in the New Zealand electricity market. It claimed to be a tech-based company on a mission to "disrupt Aotearoa's outdated, self-serving industry". It offered customers something different - a way to purchase power directly from the wholesale electricity market. But this week, it was revealed that Flick's now-owner Ampol-owned Z Energy, would transfer all Flick and Z Energy customer contracts, and the related hedge book, to Meridian, ne of the country's big gentailers. So what went wrong? Things first started to wobble in 2017, when a period of high spot prices hit Flick's customers exposed to wholesale electricity spot prices. While it previously said customers had saved an average of upwards of $500 a year on the spot price plan, customers were complaining on social media that they were paying $100 or more for power per week through the price spike. In October 2018, spot prices hit another even higher peak. Since the start of 2021, wholesale prices have been still more volatile. Photo: Supplied Flick stopped taking new customers in 2021, saying it would not begin again until wholesale prices became more affordable. It did so, but did not offer its wholesale pricing offer, and then stopped again earlier this year. Octopus Energy chief operating officer Margaret Cooney said since Z bought Flick in 2018, the market had been plagued with problems. "This includes refusals to supply and a margin squeeze whereby wholesale prices have been elevated above the cost of retail, this means mass market retail has been running at a loss - even for the big four gentailers. It looks like Flick has been sold for the long term value of their hedge book. "Flick's initial model was spot based, it worked for a limited niche, so they evolved to offer a standard fix price offer as well. The initial offer was probably ahead of its time because Tibber and Amber are similar offers internationally and have been very successful. But at the end of the day you can be the most efficient and technically advanced retailer but the wholesale market problems make growth impossible. "I think the unfortunate thing is that the market is becoming increasingly concentrated on both the generation and retail side at just the time consumers really need the investment from independent generators and retailers to improve the dynamism and affordability of the market." Cooney said prices would remain high unless there was action on the problems in the market. Huia Burt, co-founder of Electric Kiwi, agreed market conditions had been challenging in the past few years. "We made the complaint to the Commerce Commission at the end of 2023 that we felt there were two key areas where competition was really being stifled in the market and one was around the refusal or constructive refusal to supply hedge contracts which is being looked at by the energy competition task force. "There's this retail margin squeeze where effectively the gentailers are cross subsidising profits in general by really keeping a lid on on their retail profits and you could see through the last few years that their retail arms were either making no money or actually making large losses. And that was being subsidised through these huge profits and and generation. So yeah, it's very, very difficult to operate as a retailer." She said Flick's initial spot price offer was innovative when it was brought to the market. "That's what we're arguing for about why independent retail is so important because we are focused on thinking really innovatively about what problem does the customer have and how might we be able to solve it? "So while spot prices might not be for all customers, certainly there may be a segment that that really works for, you know, people who have their own solar panels and batteries for example. That innovation that was brought to the sector by independent retailers like Flick and like Electric Kiwi … That is really, really important for driving our the future of the market in New Zealand." She said as independent retailers dropped out, it took the price pressure off the bigger players. Electric Kiwi has closed to new customers. Another provider, Raw Energy, is understood to have left the market. Energyclubnz also closed and handed its customers to Contact. "One thing we do know is that we saw last winter when a lot of the independents closed their doors for some time saying, it's just too risky, that the gentailers at exactly the same time withdrew their most competitive offers from the market, so the top of the market contracted and so that meant if you were moving house, if you were looking around for a new supplier, suddenly you were paying a lot more. Even if a gentailer was offering a good deal, it wasn't as good as it was before." Paul Fuge, general manager at Powerswitch, said Flick had historically rated well in energy retailer surveys. "It's disappointing to see it absorbed by a larger player, particularly given Flick customers are typically among the most satisfied. Unfortunately, it's consumers who will bear the brunt of reduced competition yet again." Meridian chief customer officer Lisa Hannifin said there was still "really great choice" of retailers in New Zealand. "There's more retailers per capita in New Zealand than in both the Australian and UK markets." Any customers still on the wholesale pricing plans will have four months before they move on to a Meridian plan. "We know that some customers want to control when they use their energy. Meridian has been developing time of use products that can help reduce monthly bills, like the product Flick did have, and these will be available for Flick customers should they select them," Hannifin said. "We have two great retail brands that offer a range of products that customers value, but we're still working through options on which brand customers will transition to. We think Flick customers will enjoy the products, service and value that Meridian offers. We've grown our customer base by over 27,000 customers this financial year, which shows that customers are choosing us to be their retailer." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
12-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Z Energy to sell Flick Electricity to Meridian
Z Energy acquired a majority stake in Flick in 2018. Photo: RNZ Small power retailer Flick Electricity is to be sold by Australian-owned fuel retailer Z Energy to one of the big four power generator-retailers, Meridian Energy. Meridian will pay $70 million for Flick's 41,000 customers, most of whom are domestic consumers. The acquisition will lift its market share to about 18 percent . "Ampol's divestment of Flick is about strategic fit as Z Energy evolves its strategy to focus on public, business and home EV charging solutions to scale and deliver a strong customer value proposition to support the energy transition," a statement from Meridian said. Meridian, which already owns small retailer Powershop, said it would look after Flick customers it will acquire. "Flick customers can be confident of moving to a company that's committed to outstanding customer service and great value, and we look forward to having them come on board," chief customer officer Lisa Hannifin said. Z Energy acquired a majority stake in Flick in 2018, which it enlarged to near complete control as a diversification from its fuel retailing business, but several years later wrote off three-quarters of the purchase price as Flick lost customers when wholesale electricity prices surged. Flick moved from wholesale power pricing to trying to be a niche operator looking to undercut the big power companies, which brought it into conflict on occasions with the big four . Z Energy was taken over by Australian fuel refiner and retailer Ampol in 2022. Ampol said it was simplifying its business as it concentrated on vehicle charging and sustainable fuels. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
