Ampol’s net profit plummeted by 78% across 2024, with its Fuels and Infrastructure divisions seeing major difficulties.
The company’s net profit was $122.5 million, down from $549.1 million in 2023 and below Visible Alpha analyst expectations of $221 million.
“The 2024 financial year was one of challenging global refining and commodity markets that impacted both our Lytton refinery and Trading and Shipping operations,” said CEO Matt Halliday.
“The performances of our retail business in both key markets, and of our Australian commercial fuels business, underscores the increased resilience of our business today. Not only has it enabled relatively strong core earnings to be delivered during the period, it has also meant we could take the decisions necessary in the refinery during the softer margin environment to set us up for a clear run in 2025.”
Diluted earnings per share were $0.514 last year, below 2023’s $2.30. Ampol has declared an ordinary dividend of $0.05 per share, fully franked.
Ampol’s Lytton refinery in Brisbane, Australia’s largest, saw a slump in refiner margins last year following maintenance issues and a drop in demand from China.
Lytton’s refiner margin in 2024 was US$7.08 per barrel, down from US$12.81 the previous year. Its total production was 5.26 billion litres, and it posted a loss before interest and tax of A$42.3 million.
Its Fuels and Infrastructure division excluding Lytton also reported a drop of 10% in EBIT, and the Fuels and Infrastructure international sector saw EBIT fall by 81%.
Ampol’s New Zealand operations reported EBIT fell by 12%.
Convenience Retail and Corporate were its only divisions to see EBIT growth, which respectively rose by 0.6% and 2.7% over 2023.
Ampol’s (ASX: ALD) share price closed at $28.03 on Friday, up from its close at $27.91 the previous day. Its market capitalisation is $6.68 billion.
