The Federal Government has lifted the Fuel Security Services Payment (FSSP) thresholds that will result in far lower risk of EBITDA losses in both Ampol and Viva’s refining businesses. We estimate the EBITDA loss scenarios would only occur at a refining margin close to LRM of US$4.50/bbl or lower Ampol or GRM of US$6/bbl for Viva. Current elevated refining margins mean the FSSP is not at all relevant for the March quarter. The real debate is how long elevated refining margins hold. The situation around oil and fuel supply remains highly uncertain and should be taken into consideration in gauging the 12-24 month outlook.

Viva reported FY25 EBITDA down 6%, but 2H25 EBITDA up 33%. The turnaround in fortunes in Convenience is encouraging, albeit higher fuel margins in 2H25 may not be sustained. Cost savings from FY25 and improving shop gross margins help lift our FY26e Convenience EBITDA to $246 million. We can see a path to $336 million by FY28e, or 71% higher than FY25. However, executing on a supply chain transition and OTR store conversions will be necessary. We see asset sales of $150-200 million as sufficient to bring down leverage from 3.0x in FY25 to 2.0x in FY27e.

Ampol reported a good FY25 result, once again characterised by higher margins on lower fuel volumes. The company’s focus is subtly shifting towards more volume. Near-term, Ampol faces a headwind from lower refinery margins. Ampol has a few key catalysts in the next six months with potential change to government support on its refinery and ACCC approval of the EG acquisition. While there are these positives, weaker refinery margins and higher net interest keep us somewhat cautious.

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 in order to see any re-rating.

Ampol’s 3Q25 trading update showed weak volumes across all divisions, but the improvement in margins more than offsets the volume decline. Refining margins have lifted by 22% from 2Q25 to 3Q25 and is above the long-term average. In Convenience, shop gross margins increased by 295bp while fuel volumes dropped. We are mindful that the dynamic of falling volumes and rising margins will at some point be difficult to sustain. The approval of the EG acquisition remains a key share price catalyst.

Ampol’s 1H25 earnings showed a small improvement in Convenience earnings, cost savings and a good exit run-rate for refining margins. We expect Ampol’s Convenience EBIT to rise in 2H25e despite another drop in fuel and tobacco volumes. The company’s 1H25 gearing was 2.8x, but gearing should reduce with lower capex and better margins over the next two years. The recently announced EG acquisition needs ACCC approval, which will be long-dated and there may be some contention around the number of sites to be divested given the geographic overlap.

Ampol has announced the proposed acquisition of the 500-store EG petrol station network. The acquisition price of $1,050 million is at an EV/EBIT of 24.8x pre synergies, or 9.1x post synergies (pre AASB-16), which highlights the importance of the synergies in this deal. Given Ampol’s existing supply to EG and ability to accelerate the rollout of U-Go un-manned stations, the synergies look plausible. We lift our target price from $28.50 to $30.00 to reflect the EG deal noting that it could be 5%-6% EPS accretive by FY29e. The key unknown is ACCC approval.