Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Ampol Limited FY 2021 Results Announcement. All participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, you will need to press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Matthew Halliday, Managing Director and CEO. Please go ahead.
Thank you, operator. Good morning. My name is Matt Halliday. I'm the Managing Director and CEO of Ampol Limited. Welcome to our 2021 full year results call. I'm joined by Greg Barnes, our CFO, who will discuss the financial results in more detail. Following the presentation, we'll take questions, and we also have Joanne Taylor, Brent Merrick, and Andrew Brewer joining us on the call today. During the presentation, we'll be referring to the documents lodged with the ASX this morning. Safety always comes first at Ampol. I'll start with our safety performance on slide three. At the half, we reported on our improving personal safety performance, and I'm pleased to say that our targeted improvement plans have delivered a marked reduction in injuries.
The comprehensive improvement plans to address the rise in tier-two process safety incidents from our third-party carriers have delivered a welcome reduction in incidents in the second half. We remain incident-free in terms of tier-one process safety incidents since 2018. Of course, our focus on COVID safe operations for our people and our customers continues to be a primary focus for our operations teams across the entire business. I'm a firm believer that safety is an important indicator of the overall health of the business, and as such, it's extremely pleasing to see the very positive momentum we have in this area. Turning to the highlights of our performance now on slide four. I think we'll look back on 2021 as being a truly transformational year for Ampol as we made significant progress on our strategic priorities while also delivering strong operational and financial performance.
Looking at our strong financial performance first. ARCOP EBIT of AUD 631 million is the highest result since 2018 and was achieved against the persistent COVID-19 backdrop as we focused on what we could control in what was a challenging external environment. The result was underpinned by strong operational and financial performance from Lytton, record F&I international earnings, and solid performance in retail despite the impact of COVID in the third quarter. This strong financial performance was further bolstered by record total sales volumes of over 22 billion liters as our strategy to diversify internationally bore fruit with successful trading operations out of Singapore and Houston. The balance sheet remains strong, with low net borrowings and a leverage ratio of 1.2x . This is well below the target range, providing significant capacity to fund the Z Energy acquisition.
Our operating cash flows were reasonably strong given the backdrop of higher crude and product prices, and this provided capacity for further investment in the business and increased shareholder returns. During 2021, we returned AUD 479 million to our shareholders through a combination of the off-market buyback and fully franked ordinary dividends. Taking into account the strong financial position and strong outlook, the board has declared a final dividend of AUD 0.41 per share, taking the full year dividend to AUD 0.93 per share, fully franked. Greg is going to take you through the details of our financial results shortly. During the year, we made good progress repositioning the business and building our foundations for the future. This includes our decision to continue refining operations underpinned by the Fuel Security Program that supports Australia's dual objectives of fuel security and an orderly energy transition.
We continued to execute on our strategy to diversify and grow internationally with the Z Energy scheme implementation agreement signed. Since launching our future energy and decarbonization strategies back in May, we have begun the build-out of our own capability and established a number of industry partnerships and connections. This has really enabled us to progress our thinking and next phase plans as we look to transition with our customers in the years ahead. I'll talk in more detail about our next steps shortly. Looking at our own operations, we have set the ambition to reach net zero emissions by 2040, including setting interim targets and goals. Ampol's success is only possible through the efforts of our employees and the support of our customers and the communities in which we operate. Ampol team members are a key part of our competitive advantage.
With strong employee engagement and cultural health up nine percentage points during the year. When coupled with a strong safety performance, I think this really demonstrates the underlying health of the organization and the importance of the well-being of our people. Customers have responded really well to the return of the iconic Australian Ampol brand, which combines a sense of history and nostalgia with a fresh new look. The Ampol Foundation has continued its programs to advance education and community safety and well-being, including bringing back the Ampol Best All Rounder Awards in 2021 and continued strong engagement with our key partners, Surf Life Saving Australia, The Smith Family, the Stars Foundation, and the Qantas Foundation. Turning now to slide five. The Ampol rebrand program accelerated through the year, with 880 sites or almost 1/2 of the network now dressed in the fresh new look.
The success of the Ampol rebrand has been nothing short of outstanding in my view, with rebranded sites outperforming control sites across key performance indicators, including number of transactions, fuel volumes sold, premium volumes, and card volumes. This represents a very material step up compared to the update provided in August last year. Speaking of our card, the Ampol card rollout has been equally successful, with all card customers now issued with their new Ampol card, which in 2021 retained its number one market leadership position for fuel cards in Australia. Slide six shows the key group financial metrics. Profit metrics increased substantially right across the board. The balance sheet is exceptionally strong, with significant capacity in place to fund Z Energy acquisition. Total sales volumes grew nearly 10% to more than 22 billion liters.
That's an all-time record in our more than 120-year history as a company. Australian volumes were resilient at just over 13 billion liters, despite the extended lockdowns, and international sales volume growth at 38% was a real highlight. The strong operational performance we saw at the Lytton Refinery led to production of 6.14 billion liters, allowing Ampol to take advantage of the improving refiner margin environment that we are now seeing. Capital discipline has been, and will remain, a key focus for Ampol. Return on capital employed was up three percentage points to 12%. The balance sheet capacity and strong cash flows have been directed to both shareholder returns of AUD 479 million and investment back in the business of AUD 324 million.
Through the off-market buyback and ordinary dividends, nearly AUD 200 million of franking credits have now been released, maintaining our commitment to our shareholders. I'll now hand over to Greg to take you through details of the group and segment performance.
Thank you, Matt, and good morning, everyone. If we look, turn to slide eight. I'll talk briefly to the Australian market first, and then talk to Ampol's volume performance. After a pretty encouraging first half, the second half saw Australian product demand decline with our two largest markets, New South Wales and Victoria, spending the entire third quarter in lockdown. This impacted petrol demand in particular. Despite the strong start to the year, petrol demand finished only slightly ahead of last year. Demand for diesel, where Ampol is overweight, grew, finishing the year up 5%. While Australian jet fuel demand fell a further 9% in 2021 due to the full year impact of travel restrictions.
Looking at Ampol, group fuel sales increased by almost 10%, driven by the strong international sales growth, which reached approximately 9 billion liters, up 38% from 2020 levels. Simply put, our strategy to diversify into international markets has contributed to Ampol's growth during a challenging period in Australia. Australian wholesale volumes were down 3.4%. This decline is driven almost entirely by the full year impact of border restrictions on jet fuel and the expiry of swap arrangements with a competitor. Our underlying B2B volumes in petrol and diesel grew sufficiently to offset the impact of lockdowns on wholesale volumes into the reseller segment. The convenience retail was a story of two halves.
Fuel volumes grew 5.1% on a like-for-like basis in the first half, but the impact of lockdowns in the second half led to a decline in volume of 10.9% on a like-for-like basis. As a result, full year volumes were down 3.2% on a like-for-like basis. Slide nine summarizes our group profitability. We're quite pleased with the strong performance in a relatively challenging market, set of conditions. On an ARCOP basis, the group delivered just over AUD 1 billion in EBITDA, up 23% on the year, while EBIT was AUD 631 million, up 57%. The headline level, Fuels and Infrastructure, grew EBIT by 170%. Lytton's operational performance was excellent, and it benefited from strong refiner margins, particularly towards the end of the year.
Lytton operated for the full year in 2021, following a major maintenance shutdown in 2020. As a result, it displaced imported volumes, the margins from which reduced the rest of F&I Australia's earnings year on year. F&I International earnings grew overall on the back of growth in Gull and in our trading and shipping business. As I mentioned earlier, the convenience retail business performed strongly in the first half in both fuel and in shop. The second half was significantly impacted by the responses to the Delta variant in the period between July and October. This occurred as crude and product costs continued to rise, putting pressure on retail margins.
Operationally, the retail team focused on what they could control, improving shop and gross margin and executing on the EBIT uplift strategy. These combined actions contributed to the solid performance with an EBIT of AUD 254 million for the year. As a result, ARCOP NPAT grew by 72%, while EPS was up 80%, reflecting the accretive benefit of the off-market buyback undertaken in the first half. On a historical cost basis or HCOB basis, Ampol reported an NPAT of AUD 560 million compared with a loss of AUD 485 million last year. In addition to the uplift in ARCOP earnings, the result was supported by inventory gains on rising crude and product prices and a material reduction in significant items. Slide 10 is an important one.
It demonstrates the impact of the Delta-related restrictions to Q3 trading, while Q4 reinforces how quickly Ampol's earnings respond to improved trading conditions. As you can see, we had a strong finish to the year with a fourth quarter group EBIT of AUD 189 million. Within that result, Australian fuel sales were at their highest level since the pandemic began, and post-lockdown traffic for convenience retail also improved, returning to pre-COVID levels in December. Refining margins also increased sharply in the fourth quarter, driven by global dynamics. While Matt will touch on recent trading and the impact of Omicron, we take quite a bit of comfort from what we saw in Q4 as we look ahead. Slide 11 shows the key contributions to the strong improvement in group EBITDA and in EBIT.
We've really just discussed those movements, so I'm just gonna skip straight to slide 12. Slide 12 looks into the F&I result in more detail. You'll see we've stripped out the impact of depreciation and FX to give you a clearer view of underlying trading. Obviously, the refinery is a standout, and I'll talk to that on the next slide. However, in interpreting F&I's performance, you should consider Lytton's impact on earnings net of the reduction in F&I Australia. That reduction is entirely the consequence of lost margins on reduced import product to meet demand last year while Lytton wasn't in operation. While the underlying trading conditions for F&I Australia remain challenging, with lower volumes across the retail sector and the full year impact of reduced jet demand, these impacts were offset by cost management and operational performance throughout the supply chain.
Earnings from the international business were up 31% year-on-year, with our international trading business and GOAL both performing well. International volumes grew by 38% or 2.4 billion liters, mostly through our strategy to diversify by geography and customer. GOAL performed well. They grew volumes and added nine retail sites during the year. Earnings from SEAOIL in the Philippines were essentially flat, which was a good result considering the COVID disruptions in that market. We also invested AUD 7 million in building capability to support our future energy strategy. Slide 13. On slide 13, we can dive into Lytton's performance. Lytton Refinery benefited from both increased production and improved refining margins. Production increased to 6.14 billion liters in the year from 3.53 billion liters in the prior year.
It was a strong operational performance this year, and comparisons are also impacted by the T&I shutdown in 2020. The operational performance of the refinery was exceptional, with the highest yield ever and production at its near highest levels since 2016. We also saw US dollar refining margins, which averaged $7.50 per barrel in 2021, up from $4.70 per barrel in 2020. This lifted earnings by AUD 123 million net of the impact of the high Australian dollar, which increased to $0.75 from around $0.69 last year. The temporary refining production payment or the TRPP contributed AUD 40 million in the first half, and the improved refining margins in the second half meant we did not benefit from the FSSP or the Fuel Security Services Payment during the year.
On slide 14, we'll look at the KPIs for our convenience retail business. I've already talked to the first and second half dynamics in the retail result, in particular, the trading restrictions between July and October. I think in that context, the retail team delivered a robust set of numbers and finished the year strongly. The retail fuel volumes were 3.9 billion liters, down 3.2% on a like-for-like basis compared to 2020. This included a more than 10% decline in the second half. Pleasingly, premium fuel penetration increased slightly over the year to 52.2%, even as prices rose sharply. Network shop sales declined by just 2.6% on a like-for-like basis.
Our non-fuel EBIT uplift initiatives reached AUD 52.6 million by year-end against a 29 base, and we are on track to achieve the target of AUD 85 million by 2024. Slide 15, the relative balance of our retail volume mix between petrol and diesel has helped to mitigate volume decline across the network. However, it did increase our exposure to weaker diesel margins this year. Essentially, while falling crude costs were supportive of margin expansion last year, the converse was true for most of 2021, where the market takes time to pass through rapidly rising crude and product costs to pump prices. Slide 32 in the appendix is a good illustration of this. The continued focus on things we can control, including waste, shrink, and other costs, saw shop contribution maintained over the year despite reduced sales.
Progress in these areas means we are well-positioned to benefit from improved trading conditions as they eventuate. The transition to company operating model is virtually complete, with efficiency gains contributing to a reduction in the cost of doing business. I'm turning now to our balance sheet and our cash flow on slide 16. Operating cash flows of AUD 635 million was a pretty pleasing result, considering the AUD 520 million increase in working capital during the period, almost entirely driven by rising crude and product prices. We returned AUD 479 million to shareholders during the year, AUD 300 million of which was by way of off-market buyback. The buyback saw us repurchase 4.6% of issued capital at AUD 26.34 per share and return AUD 190 million of franking credits to shareholders.
As a result, we exited the year with AUD 724 million of net borrowings or AUD 1.7 billion of net interest-bearing liabilities inclusive of leases. This represents net leverage of 1.2x after adjusting for the hybrid equity credit of AUD 500 million. We continue to maintain our targeted leverage range of 2-2.5x , giving us capital management flexibility, including in our funding of the Z Energy transaction. I'm now on slide 17. Since 2019, Ampol has been able to return more than AUD 1.1 billion to shareholders through a combination of buybacks and ordinary dividends. These returns and dividends have been fully franked, and we've released over 40% of our franking credit balance in that period.
Today, we also announced a final dividend of AUD 0.41 per share, taking total dividends to AUD 0.93 per share, fully franked. This represents a payout ratio of 61% of the full year ARCOP NPAT and is in the middle of our stated range. As expected, capital expenditure was skewed to the second half, largely due to increased rebranding activity, Metro store rollouts, and a small Lytton T&I. Our full-year CapEx was AUD 324 million, and that was in line with the guidance we gave at the start of the year. Looking ahead, we expect CapEx to be in the order of AUD 400 million in 2022, in large part due to the completion of the Ampol rebranding rollout and the ramp-up of investment in our four key highway sites at Pheasant's Nest and on the M4.
Beyond that, our improving margins and earnings and cash flow profile, together with our balance sheet, increases the resilience of this business and positions Ampol to progress our plans in relation to Z Energy and Future Energy while ensuring optimal returns to our shareholders. I'll leave it at that and hand back to Matt and come back with the questions in a little while. Thank you.
Thanks very much, Greg. We're now on slide 18. Everyone at Ampol can be proud of what we've achieved in a year that was significantly disrupted yet again. We've delivered strong operational and safety performance. Our financial results are the strongest they've been for several years, with record sales volumes. We're building a track record for doing what we say by also delivering on our 2021 strategic priorities. For the Enhance pillar, our priorities included the rebrand, which has exceeded even our own expectations, and we're ahead of schedule, and the sites are outperforming across all key performance indicators. We completed the refinery review, deciding to continue operations until at least mid-2027, underpinned by the federal government's fuel security program. It provides reduced earnings downside risk while maintaining benefit and exposure to the full upside when refiner margins are strong, as we've seen recently.
It also allows time to further consider repurposing options for what is a highly valuable infrastructure site. Our strategy to optimize the retail network continues to be executed in line with our plans, and we have been progressing the key highway service center redevelopments at both Pheasant's Nest and on the M4's at Eastern Creek. We have been able to restore returns from F&I Australia, including Lytton, through the AUD 230 million increase in ARCOP EBIT, which increased return on capital employed in that business to 11%. In terms of the Expand pillar, our focus has been on achieving our targeted EBIT uplifts from a 2019 base through growth of AUD 70 million in international earnings and AUD 85 million in retail shop earnings. We are well on the way to achieve those targets by 2024, as Greg has just outlined.
The Evolve pillar is centered around building the foundations for the energy transition. In May, we released our future energy and decarbonization strategies, and we've been making significant progress in building the team to deliver on the plans we have in place there. That includes the EV fast charges rollout, as well as collaborating with Tesla and Enerven to pilot a virtual power plant at three retail sites in South Australia. To learn more about the hydrogen supply chain, we've partnered with Fusion Fuel Green to develop a pilot production plant for green hydrogen up at Lytton. For our B2B customers who want to take action sooner, we have trialed a carbon-neutral fuels offering. There's more to do, and we anticipate realizing various opportunities in this space as we progress through 2022.
I'd now like to turn to an update on our strategy and move you on to slide 20. Ampol's view of the energy transition is evolving, and we have developed proprietary climate modeling of the transition of Australia's transport fuels industry. We've considered a range of scenarios as part of that modeling, with the two-degree scenario for road transport presented here for illustrative purposes. I should note that Ampol supplies energy for a range of purposes, including industrial uses, marine, and aviation, so well beyond road transport. Modeling we've done has really reinforced our view that Australian road transport fuel demand is going to remain robust until at least 2030 under all scenarios. We hold this view because the pathway to decarbonization of road transport will be driven by the near-term availability of EVs in Australia.
Concurrently, government policy and the pace of technological innovation will be important to reaching cost parity. Of course, the existence of enabling infrastructure to support the significant charging demand and alleviate range anxiety for customers is also going to be critical. EV penetration in Australia is currently very low at about 0.2% of the total fleet. While EVs, as a percentage of new cars sold, has increased to about 2% of annual sales, it will require a significant ramp up in sales to reach the estimated 15% penetration of the passenger fleet by 2030. A key point to draw from this slide, I think, is that the energy mix needs of our customers will change over time, and Ampol is taking the necessary steps to adapt.
Turning to our response to the range of possible energy transition scenarios now on slide 21. Our test and learn approach will step up in 2022, aligned with our commitment to spend a minimum of AUD 100 million by 2025. While we have formed a view today of the likely path of the mobility energy transition through our infrastructure assets, our brand, our supply chain expertise, and customer relationships, we retain flexibility to respond to the differences that could, and in fact are likely to occur in the pace of transition and changes to the energy mix. Our current view is that battery electric vehicles will be the solution for passenger car short trips.
Government and corporate fleets are likely to be the first movers, so in that sense, our market-leading AmpolCard, customer relationships, and forecourts, in our view, provide a platform to build a broad EV charging network with support from ARENA funding. As the energy transition progresses, as the previous slide showed, the range of energy types then expands. Traditional fuels like petrol, diesel, jet, and biofuels are going to remain for some time, but electricity and hydrogen also enter the mix. Our customers' needs will expand, and the future of power and mobility is going to become a lot more complex. Ampol is very well placed to make it simpler for our customers.
Looking at those same government and corporate fleet customers, for example, Ampol aims to power their journeys through a combined fuel offer and electricity at their home and on the go, because we want to capture customers at the start, during, and at the end of their journey. We see hydrogen as the primary solution for long-haul heavy transport. The economics are difficult at present but are expected to improve over time, with fuel cell electric vehicles expected to be commercially available in the latter half of this decade, assisting with that transition. Biofuels and synthetic fuels will have a crucial role to play during the transition, particularly in hard-to-abate sectors such as aviation and industrial sectors like mining. Our focus areas for 2022 are quite clear.
They are firstly, EV charging, including the rollout of an Ampol-branded EV fast charging network with the support of ARENA funding. Secondly, an electricity test and learn via small-scale trials for energy retailing to demonstrate Ampol's value proposition, recognizing that in the future, EV charging will be an important part of a broader energy solution that is required by our customers. Thirdly, continuing to assess the hydrogen supply chain through the completion of the pilot plant up at Lytton. Finally, by partnering with our customers to provide biofuels delivered via our existing infrastructure. Moving on to slide 22. The Z Energy acquisition is progressing well. We're undertaking the necessary regulatory approval processes with both the NZCC and the OIO.
The process for the sale of Gull is now well progressed with a strong list of shortlisted bidders. Z is undertaking the matters within their responsibility, and the Marsden Point refinery is set to transition to an import terminal as of the first of April this year. We remain very hopeful that we can complete the transaction in the first half of this year, and that means we can cement our position as the Trans-Tasman market leader in both fuels and convenience. While I spoke earlier of the role Z Energy will play in growing our international earnings, the combination of Ampol and Z will also create a stronger platform for the development of lower emissions energy solutions as we share knowledge and capability across the Tasman. Turning now to the outlook and our key priorities for 2022 on slide 24.
Through our leadership position in fuels, Ampol is well positioned to benefit from the expected recovery in fuel demand, and we welcome the recent decision to open international borders to tourists. That will help the recovery in jet demand, which of all the fuels has been most impacted by the effects of the pandemic. However, it's going to take some time for Australian sales volumes to recover to pre-COVID levels. The Lytton refinery retains full exposure to the expected refiner margin upside, while the Fuel Security Services Payment provides a level of support during periods of low margins should they occur. We anticipate growth in convenience retail earnings from both fuel and shop through our market-leading convenience offer and shop formats, as well as our ongoing focus on costs, waste, and shrink.
It's these elements, combined with the positive exposure of our company-operated model to increasing demand, that really fosters growth. The Z transaction is expected to complete in the first half of 2022, with earnings and cash flow contributing to the group's results in the second half, subject of course to the regulatory clearances and Z Energy shareholder approval. Looking out to the longer term, we're clear on our key priorities to deliver improved returns for our shareholders. They are firstly to complete the rebrand, which is performing very well. Secondly, to successfully complete the Z Energy acquisition. Thirdly, to invest in future energy and decarbonization solutions for our customers.
While the emergence of the COVID-19 Omicron variant has impacted recent trading, the improved momentum in key profitability drivers in the fourth quarter, coupled with higher refiner margins, has reinforced the responsiveness of Ampol's earnings to more favorable market conditions. I think this really provides cause for optimism for FY 2022 as mobility continues to increase. That ends our presentation of our results for 2021 today. In a moment, we'll take your questions, but just before we do, I'd like to thank Joanne Taylor for her efforts to reposition the convenience retail business. Jo has advised me of her resignation to pursue a fantastic career opportunity to lead a company outside our sector with Compass as their Managing Director for Australia.
I think it's a real credit to Jo and her capabilities, but also reflects on the caliber of the management team that we have at Ampol. Jo's gonna be with us for a further several months to ensure a smooth transition. We certainly wish Jo well in her future career, and while at a personal level, I will and we will all miss Jo, we have a strong bench of talent here at Ampol to achieve our ambitions as a group, and she leaves the business and a team performing strongly as volumes and shop sales recover. Now, Greg and I are here to take your questions, and just a reminder that we also have Jo, Brent, and Andrew on the line, and I may direct questions to them also. With that, we'll take our first question, please.
Your first question comes from Michael Simotas from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
All right. Good morning, everyone. The first question from me is just relating to costs. Most companies this reporting season have spoken about elevated operating costs, labor availability, freight costs, et cetera. Can you give us some color on what you're seeing in your business and to what extent costs are elevated, and also, how your contracts allow you to pass that through on the commercial side of the business, please?
Yeah, thanks, Michael. Yeah, certainly we're seeing the same cost pressures that I think are flowing through most industries at the moment from a labor point of view and more broadly through the supply chain. They tend to pass their way through the system as you would expect from a pricing point of view. Certainly, if you look at crude, for example, we're obviously seeing significant cost escalation flow through. Our B2B contracts tend to relate to and refer to market markers, and they flow their way through those contracts as you would expect.
Okay. You're not expecting any material drag on earnings?
The cost pressures that we're seeing, we tend to see them flow their way through the system. As we have been for a number of years now, we remain very focused on managing our cost base and ensuring that year-on-year, we're focused on ensuring those efficiencies are coming through the system. That's a long-standing program of work and that stands us in good stead for the conditions we're seeing at the moment.
Okay, wonderful. Thank you. Just a second question from me. The potential conflict in Ukraine, how should we think about the risks, if any, that presents on your business? I mean, we can make our own assumptions about oil price, and that's fine. Is there anything that we should be thinking about in trading and shipping, and any sort of views on refining would help as well.
Not particularly, Michael. I think, of course, you know, we've seen a big kick up in crude that has a timing lag into margins, and then we see that recovery. It's no different. Aside from that factor, you know, refining conditions at the moment are very strong, remain very strong, and nothing really to call out from a trading and shipping point of view. We always look to, you know, the various conditions that are playing out around the world, manage our risk very tightly accordingly, but no particular implications from that event that I would call out.
Okay, wonderful. Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Adam Martin from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Perhaps you can just update on the Z Energy transaction, Gull investment, and just the completion you've got first half 2022 for. Should we sort of assume June, or is there potential for an earlier completion? Just perhaps you can touch on that, please.
Yeah, look, the NZCC is currently scheduled to deliver a decision on the sixteenth of March, and we'd expect a Z shareholder vote a little shortly thereafter. Then, you know, subject to a positive resolution on both of those, you know, we'd be waiting on securing the OIO approval. We'd expect it to happen through May and June, all going well. Can't give you any more precision than that. It's obviously in the hands of the regulators, Adam. Look, as I mentioned in my comments, the Z...
Sorry, the Gull divestment process is proceeding strongly with a good, strong list of shortlisted bidders, and we're moving through the completion of the sales process there. Nothing more to update other than we're pleased with where the situation is currently, and it's all on track from our perspective.
That's good. Second question, just on the minimum stock holding obligations, you know, refineries have got an advantage there potentially just around, you know, storing oil and offsets with diesel. You know, when will those regulations be finalized? It appears to be taking a bit longer than I sort of thought, but actually just talk through that, please.
Yeah, the government's put its MSO regulations out for consultation at the moment, so there's a range of points that are under consideration. There's a lot of complexity in how it comes together, so it is taking longer. Look, from our point of view, I think we're strongly positioned, as you point out, Adam, the refinery means that we're well positioned with the counting of crude to our stock holding obligations. Obviously, Ampol is well positioned with a strong infrastructure footprint. We certainly expect from 1 July this year to be compliant. You know, we're engaging with government and industry on the regulations as they're making their way through the system.
Okay. Thank you. That's all from me, Matt.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Dale Koenders from Barrenjoey. Please go ahead.
Morning all. You're very kind to maybe focus on some of the negatives into January. Fuel volumes down 8% and shop sales down 7%. I was wondering if you could provide a comment, Matt, on, you know, have you seen the $11.24 refining margin continue so far? Is it? And also in terms of fuel margin, which typically offsets the weakness in fuel volumes, you know, is that held up like we've normally seen? And then finally, also, just can you be a bit more specific on what volumes are down 8%? Is that total Australia, total business, convenience retail? Thanks.
Yeah, sure, Dale. Look, in terms of what we've seen in January, that 8% that we've referenced is year-on-year for retail fuel volumes. In terms of what we've seen from a margin point of view, I'm sure you referenced the AIP margin data. You know, that shows, I think, a little bit of what's happening. Clearly, we've seen a strength in crude related to a range of the geopolitical factors that are playing out in the world, which does have a lag effect into margin. You know, we can now see that starts to make its way through the system, as you would normally see, as we look into February.
We can also see post Omicron volumes starting to recover nicely. Look, I think as I mentioned in my comments that we have seen refining conditions strengthen that we saw in Q4 continue into Q1 thus far. You know, I think that's encouraging as we look to the outlook.
Okay. Just secondly, could you provide a little bit more color on what that AUD 7 million cost from New Energy has been? Is it just people or is it losses on like VPP or, you know, other pilot projects? Should it continue, I guess?
No, Dale. It's-
Questions.
Oh, sorry, Dale. Did I talk over you? Go again.
No. Go ahead. Yeah.
Sorry, mate. Look, it's primarily and people and you know, resource of some sort, right? Whether it's consulting or otherwise, in building a team, deepening our research and positioning ourselves to launch the test and learn activities that Matt's just communicated. That's-
That's where it is. We've guided to spend in 2022 in the order of AUD 30 million. Roughly sort of 10 of that, if you like, a third of that is capital expenditure.
Okay. Should we assume that sort of level of, I guess, costs ongoing in the business for some time, just given that the pilot project's probably not gonna turn around and start generating profits or making a return anytime soon?
Look, I think the reality of the answer is it'll depend on what we learn through the process, but we did commit to that AUD 100 million spend, which by and large is from, well, from the launch of the strategy out to 2025. I think that's remains your best guide.
Okay. Thanks, guys.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Mark Samter from MST. Please go ahead.
Yeah, morning, guys. A couple of questions, if I can. Just the first one, back to refining margins. Viva in their presentation this morning, they put up a chart about how rising crude premium, particularly the back end of the year for them and I think the inference is they expect it to persist through current year 2022. Have you seen? Because obviously Singapore margins have been incredibly strong, particularly through February, but strong through January. Have you been seeing similar pressures on crude premium, or is that a reasonably Viva specific phenomenon?
No, we are seeing and would expect to see when we see the oil markets this strong, Mark, that you see crude premiums also increasing through the system. We saw that to some extent through the back end of last year, and we will see that through the start of this year.
Okay, perfect. Thanks. I just wanna come to the balance sheet and thinking about the Z deal and obviously the balance sheet on a ex-Z basis is looking incredibly lazy again. Can we construct any scenario where you do need to tap the market for that equity that was talked about at the time of the deal? Or do we feel pretty comfortable to say the balance sheet's in a position now and the earnings outlook's in a position now, and you've done the hybrid where equity's off the table?
Yeah, look, we're absolutely planning to fund this thing through our balance sheet. If we were to the point where something would need to change, I think for us to deviate from that. Where we sit today, our intention is to minimize it and most likely eliminate the equity raise. I think we would, you know, we'll bump up in sort of within the first sort of. Depending on when we complete the transaction, of course, we're likely to get up near that sort of the top of our stated range, but then I'd expect we can sort of trade back through, well within and probably to the bottom of it, certainly by the end of calendar 2023.
Perfect. Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Gordon Ramsay from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks. Great result, guys. Just on the 2022 outlook, you haven't made any statement on Australian fuel volume guidance for 2022. Can you just kinda elaborate why that's not in this year?
What we've seen, Gordon, as we're all somewhat challenged by a couple of years of COVID, is that it's increasingly challenging to provide volume guidance as we see sort of the impact of surges and then impacts, sort of temporary impacts, if you like, flowing through years. We haven't provided that guidance. I think we're pretty positive in terms of some of the trends that we see coming through on the recovery side. We're seeing good performance. You know, Greg called out the impact on our volumes in 2021, including the competitor supply chain decision impacting the buy/sell. The underlying B2B business is actually from an industrial customer point of view, performing strongly.
We can see some really encouraging signs now flowing through the system from an aviation point of view. We can see some real green shoots from a retail and retail-linked sort of wholesale volume perspective as we see mobility increase through 2022. It's hard to predict exactly what that culminates in from a volume perspective. What I would say is that we're pretty encouraged by what we're starting to see at the moment flow through the system.
It's Greg here. The only build to that would be to, you know, slide 10, where we've just demonstrated, you know, how the business performs in sort of more benign or, you know, good conditions. You can see there, we did 3.5 billion liters in Australia in the quarter. Of course, going into a period of Omicron coming into the new year. You know, in terms of the steer generally around what this business is capable of in sort of more normal operating conditions, that's not a bad guide. Likewise, from an earnings perspective, there's some swings and roundabouts in there. You know, that's. We're pretty encouraged by that result and keep-
With jet, the probable swing factor as you start to see tourists coming in and an international recovery start to flow through the system. Notwithstanding, that's gonna be a multi-year recovery for jet volumes to get their way back to where they were pre-COVID.
Okay. Just to summarize, no number, but directionally, it sounds you're very positive overall. Cautiously positive.
Cautiously positive.
Just last question, just on F&I International. Great result there. Looks like it's up 30% year-on-year and a record for the company. You mentioned that was due to improved performance from Gull and T&I. Gull added nine sites, and was that the main driver, the addition of the sites that drove the volume increase there? 'Cause you mentioned the Philippines was flat.
Yeah. There's a couple of points to that. Maybe I'll kick off and by all means, Brent, if you're on the call, you can add some color if you like. You know, Gull added nine sites. In terms of contribution to the growth in earnings, Gull was an important part of the growth in overall international earnings. Of course, in terms of total volume, Gull is a relatively small part of volume as it pertains to international in total.
Most of the volume growth in international came through the trading and shipping business, our ability to now source out of Houston, and just continued efforts to add capability, if you like, and expand our customer and base and geography that we serve. I don't know, Brent, you wanted to add anything to that?
Not much to add. Greg, I think you're right. You know, volume growth is driven out of the trading business since we've continued our multi-year strategy to expand on geography and customer base. That's probably it. Yeah. I think you've covered it well.
Just to finish, the outlook for that for 2022 then is still, you know, similar volumes or you feel fairly positive on subject to market conditions?
There's two elements to that, of course, we're in a process to acquire Z. We would be obviously looking to divest the Gull business. You know, aside from that, we'd be continuing to pursue growth in our international business. That will be our ambition. We've invested in capability. That sort of means that some of our costs run a little bit ahead of profit, if you like. Certainly our ambition would be to continue to grow our international business year-on-year.
That's good. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Scott Ryall from Rimor Equity Research. Please go ahead.
Refining New Zealand. Well, on the New Zealand market, Refining New Zealand put out an interesting announcement prior to Christmas, on a feasibility study around green hydrogen. I was wondering if you could give your views, just updated views on the New Zealand market. You've made a lot of discussion on the road transport market in Australia and in the pack, but I was wondering if that changes your views at all on New Zealand or whether you can tell us whether that's pretty similar glide path that you see. I guess the second part of that question on the same theme is, could you talk about whether that gives you any ideas about how to better utilize Kurnell, please?
Yeah, thanks, Scott. Look, we obviously communicated extensively around the time of announcing the proposed Z acquisition. Look, there are some differences in the New Zealand market relative to Australia. Obviously, they hold a lot in common also. An aged fleet relative to the Australian fleet, I think it's roughly 15 years relative to 10, slightly over 10 in Australia, and a heavy reliance on the used car market and the importing of used cars are two key differences that I'd call out. I think they are key differences that make the challenge of transition in the nearer term even more considerable.
Ultimately, obviously, the transition is going to occur there in a similar way that it's going to be here. Our expectation is that actually the transition on the passenger side will take a little longer, but ultimately catch up with Australia after 2030. That's what our modeling would indicate. In terms of the RNZ announcement, I think it's a good example of the strategic nature of some of these refining sites, whether it's the former refining site we have in Kurnell, so the 240 hectares that we have there, or equally the 240 hectares that we have up at Lytton at the moment.
Certainly, how we can utilize those sites in the context of the transition and the inherent value that those sites have as strategic infrastructure sites is very much in our thinking and in our workflow at the moment. When we look to the, you know, the capability that we're building within the business from a future energy point of view, as Greg alluded to, how we work through the repurposing of those sites ultimately is very much a topic that's firmly on our agenda.
Okay. Then on the electricity side of things that you presented on slide 21, obviously you're doing small-scale trials and those sorts of things, but can you talk a little bit more about the value proposition and how you ensure that it doesn't end up being too cash flow negative, please?
Yeah. I think, you know, as I mentioned, we certainly see the role that we play for the customer as they require an integrated energy offering over time is a role that Ampol can play. We think that the charging offering is going to be an important one that starts at home is going to lean heavily on public infrastructure as well, and that's where the forecourt is extremely well-placed. Other destinations are also gonna be critically important there. Given the charging offer starts at home, we think it's important to conduct a test-and-learn in terms of the role Ampol can play.
We are going to be disciplined around testing the value proposition and what we can bring there to answer questions like the one that you're asking, Scott. That's what we intend to do. We'll work through that in 2022 and look at, you know, particularly as I mentioned the AmpolCard. You know, just under 40% of the card market, we see those fleet customers from a government and a corporate point of view are really agitating for how an offer can come together. We think we have the right set of parameters to be able to put quite a compelling offer together to those fleet customers and really leverage that card position that we have.
For testing during 2022, but that's a summary of our thesis that we're gonna be testing.
Okay. Good. Thank you. Last question, if it's okay. On Slide 38, you've got quite a good chart showing the Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions from your operations. Obviously, Scope 3 is a different question, but I wonder, have you ever looked at the possibility of carbon capture at Lytton and whether that makes financial sense?
No, it's not something that we've looked at in any detail at this point. Certainly, as we're looking into the repurposing of the site, that's quite a broad scope of work that we're contemplating.
Okay. All right. That's all I had. Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Daniel Butcher from CLSA. Please go ahead.
Hi, everyone. Couple of questions from me. The first one is simply, you know, looking at Viva's presentation today, at the same time, they've won quite a bit of market share in petrol and diesel and lots of it in jet. I'm just curious whether you can sort of characterize that from what you're seeing in the market versus, your own market share in those various areas. Thank you.
Yeah, sure. Thanks, Dan. Look, what I would say is, you know, as I mentioned earlier, a competitor supply chain decision in Brisbane has had a, you know, that's a key factor in our own Australian volumes. Obviously, then we've had in our reseller network, we've got a more extensive retail link, if you would like, through a major reseller contract in particular. They are the two main features I would say in terms of relative volume performance. In terms of underlying industrial B2B performance, including jet, we're seeing that part of our business is in growth. We've seen and continue to see some pretty encouraging signs from a share perspective.
Okay, thank you. Second one is, you know, you think net margins and put them under a bit of squeeze, obviously, with the crude price rise, which you've talked about. Diesel margins took probably a year to recover in the last cycle, which was a little bit longer than normal. From November 2020 to November 2021, I'm just curious whether you see any reason for diesel to recover faster than that in the current environment? Do you think it might take that long to for margins to get back to where they used to be from this crude price rise in the last couple of months?
I think the right way to look at it, Dan, is that it reflects the fact that crude just kept going up. It keeps. It's an ongoing cycle of flowing through to the pump. It's a matter of what profile you see on or trajectory you see on the crude price, largely. As soon as you see some stability or, in fact, if you expect crude to take a step down at a point, they're gonna be the key factors at play rather than diesel taking longer for any reason other than that.
Okay, thanks. One final quick one or second last quick one. You know, Dale mentioned your January retail volume's down 8% and shop sales down 7%. I'm just curious, is the shop sales being down a similar amount to the fuel sales? Is that due to less customers coming to the forecourt, or is that due to switching back to supermarkets with less people in lockdowns and maybe less of a reliance on local shopping for convenience?
I think it's simply a reflection of the fact that people put themselves into a pseudo lockdown as a result of Omicron. You've seen that, you know, as we move through the peak, I think right across the economy, we saw that happen. As we've moved past that peak, we're certainly seeing that unwind sort of pretty strongly at the moment. There's really nothing to it beyond that. I think, again, pointing you to slide 10 that Greg talked to, you can see that, as conditions normalize and people get back to moving around as they're doing now, the business from a fuel volumes and a shop sales point of view performed very strongly.
Okay, thanks. One final slightly cheeky one, if I can. Obviously, you had a bit of a look at Meridian and have been talking about moving more into electricity for the EV angle and using your customer base there. You know, is any sort of large pure play
Utility business of interest to you that might be coming to be emerging in the near future? With the money spent on refinancing that you'd have the capacity that might have been more greatly put towards a business sort of future facing rather than legacy business facing.
I think you know the answer to this one, Dan. We're pretty clear on where we're deploying our balance sheet. We're moving through the completion of what we think is a very attractive transaction for us, that's going to deliver nice returns. The balance sheet is well set to be able to fund that acquisition, as Greg referenced. I also don't think we could be any clearer in terms of what our priorities are from a future energy point of view moving into 2022, including the test and learn that we're going to be putting out in terms of a retail energy offer. In response to Scott's question earlier, sort of talked about what we're looking to achieve as part of that trial.
That's where we're focused.
All right. Thanks very much. Cheers.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Joseph Wong from UBS. Please go ahead.
Morning, guys. Just two quick questions from me. The first one relates to premium fuel penetration. We're seeing, I guess, the growth in 2021, but with, I guess, crude prices lifting and Brent prices lifting, do you see, I guess, risk of premium fuel penetration falling, given the high, I guess, gasoline prices?
Yeah. My view on that one, Joseph, is, you know, we saw Brent prices increase very considerably through 2021, and we saw an improvement in our premium share. I think what that reflects is, you know, as the fleet continues to change over all the time as it does, increasingly vehicles that come in are compelled to put premium fuel in their tank. There's a structural tailwind, if you like, that supports that. Of course, you know, there always is gonna be some switching when you see high fuel pricing. I think the structural driver, as we've seen over multiple years now, is actually a pretty strong one on that point.
Great. Thanks. Then my second question is just on your retail network. How many sites are still non-core or have you now consolidated the number of sites coming through, I guess, in your business? Following on to that, how should we think about the remaining 130 sites that you currently own? Is it right to assume that will be potentially sold into the trust structure?
Jo, do you wanna take that one?
Yeah, sure. Morning, Joseph. Nice to speak with you. In terms of the review of our non-core sites, we touched on that at previous results and largely working through those in terms of sites that might transition still to an alternate operator or arguably would close, in that those sites are not best placed for us to deliver growth in earnings and not an effective use of our capital. In terms of the remaining owned sites that are not part of the trust, we continue to work through those. We obviously made an announcement at the end of last year with respect to a number of sites that we would move into that arrangement.
Thereafter, we're probably bringing that process to a close, and you won't see any further wholesale change in sites moving into a trust arrangement.
That's when our focus shifts, Joseph, to you know high quality growth, be it the M4s and Pheasants Nest Service Center redevelopments or the other NTIs that we have flowing through the system, that where we see resilient long-term sort of profitable growth being delivered out of those sites.
We have an NTIs plan for the 2022 year, Joseph.
Yeah. Thanks.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Mark Wiseman from Macquarie. Please go ahead.
Oh, good morning, Matt, Greg, and team. Thanks for the update this morning. I just had a question on the rebranding and the EG Group sites. You've made pretty amazing progress through the second half 2021 on the rebrand, and I would imagine those EG sites are probably ones that you're keen to get rebranded sooner rather than later. Our understanding was that you had to resolve the dispute on the fuel supply agreement first. Can you just provide an update on that, please?
You know, that's spot on, Mark. Look, I think, thanks for calling it out because I think the team has done an exceptional job, and the rebrand is landing exceptionally well with customers. I think to see at this stage of the rebrand program, the outperformance that we're seeing in rebranded sites against control sites, is probably beyond encouraging. It's a real positive for our business. I think there's a real opportunity, ultimately to get the Ampol brand, on the EG network. That obviously will support our own volume performance as we look to do that. We do need to resolve the dispute.
It's scheduled for the court date is scheduled for August and hopefully an outcome to follow shortly after that. That's where we're up to. You're right that we need to await the outcome of that court hearing before we can move forward and progress that part of the rebranding program.
Okay. Thanks very much.
Thank you. That does conclude the question and answer session. I will now hand back to Mr. Halliday for closing remarks.
Yeah, thanks very much for your time today. Really pleased to be able to communicate a strong result for Ampol in 2021 from a safety point of view, from a financial point of view. I think we've made really good progress on our strategic agenda in 2021. Looking forward also, hopefully our agenda is clear to everyone in terms of what we're looking to achieve in 2022. When we look to the outlook and the conditions we see as mobility is returning in 2022, it's with a sense of optimism that we're looking forward. Thanks for your time today and look forward to catching up with you all soon. Thanks, all.
Thank you. That does conclude the conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.