CEBU CITY — Top Line Business Development Corp. (Topline) sees room for continued growth as it scales up its retail fuel presence in the Visayas through acquisitions and expanded capacity, supporting its goal of capturing a larger share of the regional fuel market.
Topline Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer Eugene Erik C. Lim said the expansion of the company’s retail fuel subsidiary, Light Fuels Corp., is expected to support its financial performance this year.
He said the company is targeting to have 50 Light Fuels-operated stations in place by yearend.
“We’re hoping it can be a banner year because of the 50 (fuel) stations. From three stations last year, then it is now hopefully 50 stations this year. It’s really a banner year,” Mr. Lim said in an interview on the sidelines of the company’s 12th anniversary event held last Friday.
Topline announced last Thursday its plan to acquire a gasoline station in Consolacion, Cebu from Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc., a company led by Dennis A. Uy, for P8.5 million.
This came after Topline recently bought P180 million worth of assets under a P925-million investment to support its expansion in the Visayas.
The company entered into a purchase agreement with Total Oil & Gas Resources, Inc. and Ballston Metro Corp.
The acquired assets consist of 38 retail fuel stations located across Cebu, Leyte, Siquijor, and Negros Oriental; a two-million-liter depot facility; 15 fuel tanker trucks; machinery and equipment; and intangible assets such as a customer loyalty program and leasehold rights.
Mr. Lim said the acquisitions support Topline’s push for a higher market share in Central Visayas, which is currently estimated at 7%.
“There’s still a lot of room for growth. We would want to hopefully add more market share soon, especially with the acquisition of the different stations. As to how much, we don’t know yet because we haven’t seen the numbers,” he said.
Mr. Lim said Topline increased its fuel depot capacity to 15 million liters from 5 million liters due to higher orders in Central Visayas.
During the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting, Mr. Lim said Topline’s gross revenue rose by 36% to about P1 billion in the first quarter from P738.7 million in the previous year, driven by higher fuel sales.
He said Topline saw a 38.3% increase in liquid fuel sales to 44.43 million liters in the first half from 32.12 million liters in the same period a year ago.
“We’re now at 44 million liters for the first half. We’re about 61% already of the 72 million liters sold last year. That’s before we also acquired the different stations,” Mr. Lim said.
Topline has business interests in commercial fuel trading, depot operations, and retail fuel in the Visayas region.
Its subsidiaries include petroleum trading and distributor Topline Logistics and Development Corp., and retail fuel company Light Fuels.
Topline shares were last traded on July 18, down by 7.14% or nine centavos to P1.17 per share. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
