WOOLWORTHS is considering selling its 530 national service stations as petrol volumes fall and the company finalises its sale of its Masters hardware chain.

The move, made public in a Woolworths’ announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange, follows the public listing in August of 425 Coles-branded service stations by their owner, Viva Energy.

Woolworths said it “was currently evaluating whether to retain or dispose of its petrol business” and that it had “received incomplete and conditional proposals from a number of parties” related to the purchase of the business and the ongoing loyalty program and its on-site convenience shops.

Many of the Woolworths service stations, which are supplied by Caltex, include convenience stores.

Caltex Australia Ltd, in its statement for the 2016 financial year, did not make reference to Woolworths, though stated it planned to increase its retail exposure in the future.

In a news report last month, Caltex chief executive Julian Segal said: “If the petrol business is for sale, we would naturally be interested in it.”

In the last financial year, Woolworths reported sales of $4.6 million from its Australian petrol division. This was down 18.1 per cent on the previous year.

Any proposed sale of its petrol interests would need to receive approval by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Meanwhile, Coles’ 425 service stations made the transition to a new owner in August. The $1.5 billion Viva Energy REIT, which now owns the sites, is the only listed trust owning purely service stations.

The trust made a strong debut on the sharemarket, opening at $2.20 and closing at $2.56 on the first day.

The trust holds the entire $2.1 billion portfolio of Shell and Coles Express petrol stations throughout Australia that had been owned directly by fuel company Viva.

Viva was formed after the $2.9 billion acquisition in 2014 by Dutch oil trader Vitol of Shell’s oil refinery and fuels-retailing business.

 

By Neil Dowling