Australia's Ampol's H1 profit slumps on lower volumes, refinery margins (updated)

Ampol

18/08/2025 24:14

Ampol posts HY profit of A$180.2 mln, beats VA consensus

Declares interim dividend of 40 Australian cents

Shares rise 0.7% to A$29.36

Rewrites paragraph 1, adds further details on results in paragraphs 2 & 8, share moves in paragraph 6, analyst quote in paragraph 9

Aug 18 (Reuters) - Australia's top fuel retailer Ampol ALD.AX reported a 23% drop in its first-half profit on Monday, hurt by weak refinery margins and operational and weather-related disruptions, though the result was better than what the market had feared.

Shares of the fuel retailer drifted within tight ranges in early trade, and were down 0.2% at A$29.08 as of 0115 GMT, after rising 0.7% earlier in the session. That compared with a largely flat broader ASX 200 benchmark index .AXJO.

The company said Lytton's refinery margins started the second half strongly, with July being $9.95 per barrel, up from $7.44 per barrel in the first half.

Planned maintenance shutdowns and production losses from a cyclone disrupted operations, while weak Singapore refining margins pressured profitability at its Queensland refinery.

The refinery's underlying operating earnings shrank substantially to A$1.1 million ($716,650.00), from A$89.5 million a year ago, while earnings from its fuel and infrastructure division also nearly halved to A$118.3 million.

As a result, the company's net profit after tax from continuing operations for the six months ended June 30 fell to A$180.2 million on a replacement-cost basis, 23% lower than A$233.7 million a year ago, but beating the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of A$165.6 million.

Ampol declared an interim dividend of 40 Australian cents per share, lower than 60 Australian cents per share paid out a year ago.

The fuel retailer flagged that trends for its fuel and infrastructure division, excluding Lytton, convenience retail and New Zealand segments are expected to largely continue from the first half.

"We don't expect material consensus estimate changes, which will allow the market to focus on upside from the impending EG Group acquisition," Jefferies analysts wrote.

The company announced last week it would buy British fuel station operator EG Group's local unit, EG Australia, for a total of A$1.1 billion.

($1 = 1.5349 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Shivangi Lahiri and Anjali Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill, Marguerita Choy, Sonali Paul and Rashmi Aich)

 ((Shivangi.Lahiri@thomsonreuters.com;))