Any reasonable reading of yesterday’s news might have led you to believe that Woolworths has formally initiated a process for the sale of its national service station network.
Such a move has the potential to create a seismic shift in the national retail fuel market in Australia given that Woolworths owns around 12.5% of the national service station network and accounts for an average of 25% of all retail fuel sold in Australia.
And so somewhat understandably, yesterday’s news had industry tongues wagging about what this will mean for the future shape of the retail fuel industry.
Others were patting themselves on the back for having predicted the sale some months ago.
But before we all get too carried away, it is worth noting that there has not been any official announcement about the sale by Woolworths Limited.
So while we at ACAPMA have also heard the industry rumours about Woolworths’s fuel business for some time, perhaps it would be prudent for all of us to wait for a formal announcement from Woolworths.
In any event, it is clear that the sale process has not started.
Nor is such a sale necessarily imminent.
