CEBU CITY — Fuel retailer Top Line Business Development Corp. is hoping that 2025 will be a banner year given the fast pace of developments following its initial public offering (IPO) in April.
“To be honest, we’re hoping [2025] can be a banner year,” Top Line Chairman, President and CEO Eugene Erik Lim told reporters during the company’s 12th anniversary celebration in Cebu City last Friday.
“Let’s just face it, from one station or three stations last year, [it is] now basically, hopefully 50 stations this year,” he added, “so even for us, it’s really a banner year.”
Recent acquisitions are expected to boost income growth this year, Lim continued.
At the company’s first annual stockholders’ meeting earlier in the day, Lim said the Cebu-based fuel retailer Top Line was aiming to have 50 stations in operation by the end of the year under unit Light Fuels Corp., a big jump from the 30 stations that were projected to be built by 2026 based on its IPO prospectus.
Lim said that an “add-on of 38 more stations” to their existing or in-pipeline 12 outlets would give the company “at least 50 stations in the Visayas” where it operates.
Earlier this month, Top Line acquired 38 stations from Total Oil & Gas Resources Inc. and Ballston Metro Corp., broadening its presence in Cebu, Leyte, Siquijor and Negros Oriental.
The P180-million deal, funded through bank loans and internally generated funds, also included a 2-million-liter depot in San Jose, Negros Oriental and 15 tanker trucks that are expected to boost Top Line’s logistics capacity.
Top Line also acquired a gasoline station from Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. for P8.5 million.
Given the expanded network, Lim said: “I’m assuming a big jump in terms of revenue share in Light Fuels. We can only speculate, but we hope, [and] I think if the operations and renovations are in place, we’ll probably see more growth in our stations.”
Some 50,000 Total and Ballston customers are also expected be added to its client base following the acquisition of the 38 station.
“In the next couple of months, we’re also announcing additional expansion, not only for the fuel segment but the other segments of Top Line soon,” Lim also said.
“It’s going to be very exciting because we’re changing the landscape of different sectors in the industry,” he added.
Top Line reported an attributable net income of P37.86 million for the first quarter, up 37.7 percent year-on-year led by growth in fuel sales.
The company’s shares on Friday closed at P1.17 each, down by 9 centavos or 7.14 percent.
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