PETDAG PLANS UP TO 10 NEW PETROL KIOSKS

Company also looking to increase non-fuel revenue contribution to 30pc

KUALA LUMPUR: Petronas Dagangan Bhd (PetDag) plans to open another five to 10 new petrol stations nationwide in the financial year ending December 31, 2019 via its RM500 million capital expenditure (capex) allocation.

PetDag managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Syed Zainal said the stations would be located at areas with high population density.

“We plan to add five to 10 stations this year. We will continue to expand as we have substantial landbank. We now have 1,057 stations nationwide,” he said after its annual general meeting, here, yesterday.

It added 12 stations last year. PetDag chairman Datuk Md Arif Mahmood said it planned to increase its non-fuel revenue contribution to the group to 30 per cent from 12 per cent now.

“We introduced ‘Setel’ at the end of last year and it is Southeast Asia’s first e-payment app of its kind. We are planning to add more partners and more features to the app. We are developing new products to increase the income from non-fuel segment.

“The idea is to capture a bigger market share and offer products that are appealing to the community. We also expect more partners to come on board,” said Arif.

He said Setel now had 100,000 subscribers following its launch last year.

It is available at nearly 100 Petronas stations in the Klang Valley as end of last year.

For financial year 2019, Arif said the company would continue to efficiently manage its inventories, banking on the stabilisation of global crude oil prices.

“We were impacted last year mainly because crude oil prices came down in November and December. It impacted our inventories’ valuation despite an increase in volume.

“For this year, the plan has been consistent. We also refurbished more than 100 Mesra stores and stations last year.

“The company has also started a few initiatives leveraging digital technology.

“If global oil prices are not volatile this year, our performance for the year should be manageable,” said Arif.

PIC BY MOHD YUSNI ARIFFIN Petronas Dagangan Bhd chairman Datuk Md Arif Mahmood (centre) with managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Syed Zainal (left) and chief finance officer Norliwati Abd Wahab at the company’s annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.