Australia's Ampol expects lower annual earnings on Lytton refinery snags
Australia's Ampol estimated a steep drop in annual earnings on Thursday as production at its Lytton refinery in Queensland was hit by operational constraints and lower refining margins.
Shares of the company declined as much as 3.9% to A$28.78 in early trade while the broader benchmark index was down 0.3%.
Production at the Lytton refinery was weighed down by a refinery-wide steam outage and issues with its fluidized catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) last year.
Ampol, Australia's top fuel retailer, expects earnings before interest and tax on a replacement cost basis of about A$715 MM ($448 MM) for fiscal 2024, compared with A$1.30 B in 2023.
Total sales volumes decreased 2.1% to 27.28 B liters in 2024. However, sales volumes increased more than 9% to 7.49 B liters in the fourth quarter, helped by growth in lower margin wholesale and commercial sectors.
Margins slumped 56% to $4.60 per barrel for the three months to Dec. 31 at its Lytton refinery, owing to the planned maintenance in November.
Margins improved to $6.10 per barrel in December, the company said.
Total refinery production increased to 1.54 B liters during the quarter, from 1.43 B liters last year.
($1 = A$1.5954 Australian dollars)
Comments