African fuel retailer Vivo Energy had a “strong start” to this year, with volumes for the first quarter having increased by 7% year-on-year to 2.4-billion litres.
CEO Christian Chammas said in a statement on Tuesday that volume growth had resulted from good underlying growth in Vivo’s existing fifteen Shell-branded markets and one month of contribution from the eight new Engen-branded markets, as well as additional sites in Kenya.
In March, the new combined group had 13% higher year-on-year volumes than Vivo’s standalone performance in March last year.
“With the full contribution from the new markets for the rest of 2019, we expect volume growth to be in line with full-year guidance of low to mid double-digit percentage growth,” noted Chammas.
He added that the company had moved quickly to integrate the new Engen businesses into Vivo and was excited about the opportunities that it saw ahead in the new markets. Vivo now operates a diverse portfolio of 23 high-growth markets across Africa and is positioned to continue delivering growth across the business.
Vivo in March completed a transaction with Engen Holdings, whereby Vivo added 230 Engen-branded service stations to its portfolio.