Petronas to spend RM500mil to open new stations, expand retail services this year

 

There are now more than 1,000 Petronas stations and 800 Kedai Mesra nationwide.

KUALA LUMPUR: Petronas Dagangan Bhd (PetDag), the marketing arm of Petronas, has budgeted RM500 million of capital expenditure for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2021 (FY21).

“We will renew some petrol stations, acquire new strategic sites and enhance our non-fuel business that includes Kedai Mesra and food services,” said head of retail business Khalil Muri.

He said there are now more than 1,000 Petronas stations and 800 Kedai Mesra nationwide. The company intends to add five to 10 stations yearly to have the widest network in Malaysia.

Despite the rising number of Covid-19 cases, he said the company remained positive about the outlook of its retail segment in FY21, backed by improved crude oil prices, a return to normal of traffic volume, and higher demand for its non-fuel business.

Businesses offered under PetDag’s retail segment include fuel and non-fuel products and services such as Kedai Mesra, Petronas Smartpay and Petronas Mesra loyalty programme.

Khalil said the current international benchmark Brent crude oil price, which has risen to between US$65 and US$66 per barrel from an average of US$41.96 per barrel last year would help boost the retail’s revenue higher this year.

“This is because higher oil prices will help drive our overall profitability,” Bernama reported him as saying.

Meanwhile, he said the company also saw an increase in its non-fuel business due to higher demand as people had started returning to their workplaces and were taking advantage of the convenience offered by ready-to-eat food solutions provided at Petronas stations.

“Hence, for this year, we intend to grow our non-fuel business by 15-20%, and sell more fuel by about 5-10% from 2020. This will contribute to our growth in the retail segment,” he said.

On the new Petronas Primax 97 with Pro-Race launched in December last year, Khalil said the “best ever fuel” offered by PetDag also received positive response from customers.

Overall, Khalil expected the retail segment to contribute about 40% to the group’s total revenue for FY21, slightly lower than about 47% contributed in FY19, as the aviation industry was still taking a big hit from the pandemic.

In its filing with Bursa Malaysia in February this year, PetDag said the retail segment revenue decreased by RM4.19 billion year-on-year for FY20, mainly due to a decrease in average selling prices by 16% as well as lower sales volume of 13% in tandem with lower demand.

On the average selling price, Khalil does not expect the increasing fuel prices would affect demand fundamentally.

The government has capped the retail price for RON95 at RM2.05 per litre and RM2.15 per litre for diesel, while the price of RON97 is floated according to the market price. - FMT