Vivo Energy PLC (LON:VVO), the pan-African retailer and distributor of Shell and Engen-branded fuels and lubricants, raised full-year profits guidance.
Trading across the group in the final quarter of 2020 was strong, driven by a continued recovery in the retail operations as lockdown restrictions in many of its markets were eased.
Despite the strong finish to the year, fuel volumes of 9.6bn for the whole of 2020 were still down 7% year-on-year. Nevertheless, this was not as bad as feared and combined with improving margins means the company expects to post adjusted underlying earnings (EBITDA) for the full-year above the current forecast range of US$331mln – US$354mln.
The company said the board intends to recommend the payment of a dividend of 3.8 cents, the same as it paid for 2019.
"The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant adverse impact on our business in the first half of 2020. Since then the group has recovered strongly, with the second half in line with the comparable period in 2019, and this positive performance has continued into 2021,” said Christian Chammas, the chief executive officer.
“As a result, we are cautiously optimistic and believe that we are well-positioned for the future due to our leading positions in structural growth markets, together with our diversified and resilient business model. This is reflected in our commitment to shareholder returns through our progressive dividend policy,” he added.