Viva’s 1H26 trading update showed a continuation of near-term benefits from higher oil prices and refining. The strong earnings result has helped lower net debt by $400 million. There may be some residual benefits in 2H26e, but the outlook for retail fuel margins and gross margins in Convenience is negative. The company is also likely to see lower refining margins given the prevailing oil price.

Viva reported a lift in group fuel volumes, better gross margins in its convenience stores and higher refining margin in 4Q25. While all these signs are encouraging, the refining margin increase was smaller than Ampol’s given maintenance and power outages. Moreover, the improvement in convenience gross margin was made on a lower sales base. Viva’s cost savings seem to be flowing through but the company will need to show a more meaningful lift in sales from the OTR conversions.