(Alliance News) - Vivo Energy PLC on Wednesday doubled its 2019 dividend amid a rise in profit and revenue for the year driven by the integration of Engen-branded markets.
For the year, Vivo - a downstream petroleum company which sells branded products from Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Engen Petroleum - reported a pretax profit of USD246.0 million, up 7.2% from USD229.4 million the year before.
This was on revenue that grew by 10% to USD8.30 billion from USD7.55 billion, driven by the integration of Engen-branded products, as well as growth in Shell-branded volumes.
In March 2019, Vivo completed its acquisition of Engen Holdings (Pty) Ltd's operations in a number of African countries.
In December 2017, Vivo agreed to buy the operations of Engen in ten African nations: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Reunion, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Then, in September, Vivo and Engen confirmed they had restructured the deal, worth USD204 million, to initially complete with all but the DRC operations.
Total volumes were up 11% to 10.42 billion litres from 9.35 billion litres, following the integration of Engen and the opening of 96 new service stations, 15 of which under the Engen brand.
Vivo Energy declared a final dividend of 2.7 US cents per share, bringing the total payout to 3.8 cents, doubled from the prior year.
Looking aheAd, Vivo Energy said it expects to deliver a mid-single digit rise in gross cash profit for 2020, driven by improved volume growth in Shell and Engen-branded markets.
"These results demonstrate the strength and resilience of our business model and our disciplined approach as we delivered strong adjusted free cash flow in the year, and have recommended a final dividend of 2.7 cents per share. We have built momentum into 2020 and are excited about the 12 months ahead, as we look forward to delivering another year of strong growth," said Chief Executive Officer Christian Chammas.
Shares in Vivo Energy were down 1.9% at 102.0 pence on Wednesday in London, while its Johannesburg shares remained untraded at ZAR20.50.
By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com
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