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Z Energy Limited

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FY2013 Annual Report · Z Energy Limited
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Annual  
Review  
2013

Be straight upCienis milibus as simintum qui te nos reste sapel evel exceptatem a sinume inveliquam nos doluptaque volorem Welcome to 
the second 
Z Annual 
Review  

For the year ended 31 March 2013

Everything we do at Z revolves 
around our five organisational 
values, and this Review is  
no exception. 

We’ve once again structured  
our Annual Review according 
to Z’s five values so you can see 
what our values mean to us and 
how they guide this company.

Be straight up 

Be bold 

Share everything

5

We believe that so much more can 
be achieved if we are united. If we 
share our thoughts, our knowledge 
and our passion then we’ll all share 
the success. 

1

2

As far as we’re concerned there’s 
only one way to do business, and 
that’s the New Zealand way. So we 
make it our mission to be honest, 
open, transparent and real. 

Have the passion 

It’s impossible to be the best unless 
you are absolutely passionate about 
what you are doing and you take 
ownership of it. We are and we 
do. Our business helps to keep the 
country running. And we intend 
to do it better than anyone and to 
bring more benefits to the whole of 
New Zealand, and New Zealanders, 
as a result. 

3

4

There’s no point being in business 
to be just another fuel company. 
We intend to be the best. We can 
only do that by taking the initiative, 
by challenging the status quo, by 
being courageous and by backing 
ourselves. 

We back people

We back our employees to grow 
and succeed. We give back to the 
neighbourhoods we work in. We 
back our customers by knowing 
what they want and how we can 
support them. 

Contents

Be straight up 

The best of Z 2012/2013 
CEO’s report  
Chairman’s report  
Meet the Z Board 

Meet the Executive Team  

Have the passion 
Over 250 places to find us 
A brand for New Zealanders 
Guest column – James Bickford, Interbrand 
Helping histoy flow 
The faces of Z 
Striving for the fastest service in fuel 
Loyal to New Zealanders 

3

4
7
10
12

14

16
17
19
20
22
24
28
29

Be bold 
Commercial decisions 
Supporting the backbone  
of New Zealand’s economy 
Saving money on your fuel bill 
More ways to fuel New Zealand 
Our supply chain 
Z on the road 
An industry in need of investment 
Alternative(s) thinking 
Biofuel: A future in progress 
CO2 emissions profile 
Our progress on sustainability 

30
31

32
33
34
35
36
37
38
40
42
43

We back people 

Doing Good in the Hood 
Recognising the value of our values 
Adding the Z Factor 
We signed on for women’s empowerment 
Making safety more human 
How safe were we? 
Guest column  
– Hans Buwalda, Fletcher Building 

Driving for safety  

Share everything 

Our customers are looking for value 
We continue to listen 
How much money did we make? 
Our performance at a glance 

48

49
51 
52
54
56
58

60

62

64

65
68
69
71

Reneesha from Mini-tankers takes a scenic cycle along the beach.

 
 
3

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE STRAIGHT UP

Be straight up In this section:

The best of Z 2012/2013
CEO’s report
Chairman’s report
Meet the Z Board
Meet the Executive Team 

Rick Ward and Wayne Davidson in Z’s Christchurch Aviation team are right there with customers on the tarmac 

Be straight upCienis milibus as simintum qui te nos reste sapel evel exceptatem a sinume inveliquam nos doluptaque volorem 4

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE STRAIGHT UP

The Best of Z 2012/2013

Strong lift in earnings
Replacement cost earnings before interest, 
tax, depreciation, amortisation and financial 
instruments (EBITDAF) lifted from $172 million to 
$195 million in an increasingly competitive market.

$39 million paid to  
our shareholders
$39 million in dividends was paid to 
our two shareholders, the New Zealand 
Superannuation Fund and Infratil, for  
the year ending 31 March 2013. 

Third bond  
issue successful
Our third bond issue, this one for seven years 
and four months, raised a further $135 million. 
Over 8,000 Kiwis now have a direct stake in Z 
through our retail bonds. 

New Zealand is now fully Z-ed
We have now completed one of the largest rebranding 
programmes ever undertaken in New Zealand; safely, 
on time and on budget. Our entire network of 211 retail 
service stations and 94 truck stops is now Z. 

Stores refit on track
We have successfully refitted 78  
of our 211 retail stores nationwide.

We continue to  
grow our network
We opened four new sites and 11 car washes 
this year, and started construction on two 
more sites in Wellington and Taupo, which  
will be completed in 2013.

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE STRAIGHT UP5

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE STRAIGHT UP
2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE STRAIGHT UP

The Best of Z 2012/2013

We got faster
We completed a $12 million upgrade of our 
point of sale system, to significantly speed  
up retail transaction times and cut queues. 
This means Kiwis will collectively spend  
7,500 fewer days in queues every year!

Our brand
Z is now New Zealand’s most  
preferred retail fuel brand.

Striving for best practice  
in health and safety
We introduced ICAM and risk manager software to help us better 
understand where and why incidents occurred and to help prioritise 
our efforts in harm prevention. Human Factors experts Dr Kathleen 
Callaghan and Bridget Mintoft joined us to help ensure our health  
and safety fits with being a world-class Kiwi company.

Our values recognised
Z was awarded the HR Initiative of the Year 
Award for its work on values and their impact 
on Z’s business results.

Z one of 10  
signatories to Women’s 
Empowerment Principles
We signed up to the UN Women’s 
Empowerment Principles in keeping with  
our commitments to diversity and inclusion.

Commercial  
contracts renewed
We renewed commercial contracts with some 
of New Zealand’s largest fuel users on more 
sustainable terms, and have been increasing 
our penetration of the small to medium 
enterprise segment. 

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Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE STRAIGHT UP

The Best of Z 2012/2013

Fuelwise offers savings  
to our customers
We launched our new Fuelwise service, which 
offers commercial customers the opportunity  
to save millions of dollars by using less fuel. 

Preserving  
Wellington’s history
We worked closely with Ngāti Awa and the 
Historic Places Trust to preserve the cultural 
significance of a historical stream and double-
barrel brick vault drain at our site on Vivian 
Street in Wellington.

Secured supply
We signed new and favourable crude  
and refined products contracts, saving  
us more than $8 million per annum.

Good in the Hood
We allocated $5,000 per Z site to each 
neighbourhood’s favourite charities through 
our “Good in the Hood” local sponsorship 
programme. That means that we will once 
again contribute over $1 million to New Zealand 
neighbourhoods over the 2013 calendar year.

Connecting  
with the nation
Our Facebook page continues to grow  
in popularity, with 108,000 fans as at  
the end of March 2013.

Opportunities for  
owning a piece of Z
Z’s shareholders Infratil and the  
NZ Superannuation Fund announce  
a possible IPO for Z on the back of a 
successful transition and rebranding from 
Shell, strong cash flows, a good dividend 
outlook and growth options. 

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE STRAIGHT UP7
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Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE STRAIGHT UP

Mike Bennetts

CEO’s 
Report

This Annual Review is one 
example of how Z can be held 
accountable for doing what we 
said we would, and is entirely 
consistent with our value of 
“share everything”. Last year 
we made some forward-
looking statements about our 
performance, people, brand and 
strategy, all in the context of “Z 
is for New Zealand”. This Annual 
Review is intended to inform you 
of progress in these areas and 
provide a platform and forum for 
you to feedback how you reckon 
we are delivering against what  
we said a year ago.

This past financial year was consistent with 
the previous two as we persisted with the 
changes we feel are necessary within the 
industry, invested in our strategy projects  
and maintained the continual evolution inside 
Z towards being a world-class Kiwi company.

We have made a sizeable investment of 
money and emotional energy into our Z 
brand, and were able to respectfully  
retire the Shell brand from New Zealand’s 
downstream oil market in July 2012.  
This project was completed safely, on 
time, within budget and to the desired 
level of quality. This is a real testimony 
to Z’s willingness and ability to partner 
with a diverse group of creative minds 
and contractors to complete a substantial 
rebranding project.

When we announced the brand change in 
May 2011, at the launch events I said “a brand 
has to have an emotional connection to our 
customers. It speaks to the heart and mind, 
generating loyalty and commitment. Today 
we have presented you with a name, logo, 
colours and brand values. When we deliver  
an experience to our customers that brings all 
of this together with our new customer offers, 
then we have a brand”. Easy to say at the time 
and harder to do!

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Z ENERGY

Since that time we have rigorously  
measured our progress and performance 
through a monthly brand tracker conducted 
by a leading research company that has 
substantial experience in monitoring brands. 
Each month around 400 randomly selected 
individuals from across the country respond 
to a standard set of questions.

The results are very encouraging – Z is now 
the most preferred retail fuel brand in the 
market, 16% higher than the industry average 
and 6% higher than the closest competitor. 
31% of the market are “raving fans” of Z. 
These are people who score us as the best 
across all the attributes we measure. Our 
nearest competitor sits at 20%, and the others 
all score less than 10%. This demonstrates 
that Z is not only differentiated against others  

in the market, but that the differentiation  
is valued and appreciated.

The success of Z as a brand and our 
increasing customer loyalty was the 
catalyst for much increased activity by 
our competitors. I reckon this is good for 
everyone, as Kiwi consumers and businesses 
have much greater choice today than ever 
before. Increased competition also helps Z –  
it keeps our feet on the ground and pushes 
us to up our game on all fronts. Our balanced 
scorecard of results is an indicator of our 
ability to compete against global companies, 
respond tactically to what comes our way 
and continue implementing our strategy 
– investment in infrastructure, improved 
customer offers, the shaping of industry 
structures and our sustainability programme.

In our last Annual Review we shared our 2015 
sustainability goals and targets with you. It 
is fair to say that we have had a mixed bag 
of performance since that time – progress in 
some areas, slower than desired progress in 
others and deterioration in another. This is 
not unexpected given what we are getting 
after and the challenges that come with 
stepping out from our peer group, especially 
in an industry that is poorly regarded for 
its commitment to and delivery of a more 
sustainable energy future.

Consistent with our value of being straight 
up, we have reported on our results one year 
into our three-year sustainability programme. 
There are no stories here; we simply tell you 
what we have done or not done, and what 
we are going to do about the shortfall. Please 
continue to hold us accountable for what we 
say we will do, as we are still learning, and 
remain open to the views and inputs of others 
given the importance of getting this right.

The team at Z can be proud of many 
achievements in the past year. We sensibly 
invested in our store upgrades, with four 
new or rebuilt service stations, faster point 
of sale technology, expansion of our car 
wash network and new and improved 
customer offers, and continued with our 
asset integrity program – an essential part 
of running a safe and reliable business. We 
completed a number of system projects that 
enabled us to simplify our business and get 
the right information to people who need it, 
all in pursuit of delivering better customer 
outcomes. We successfully completed 
another bond issue, raising $135 million,  
which was used to retire our remaining  

bank debt. Importantly for our shareholders 
and investors, our financial outcomes  
grew for the third year in a row despite 
intense competition.

Z is now the most preferred  
retail fuel brand in the market, 
16% higher than the industry 
average and 6% higher than the 
closest competitor.  

There are areas of our performance of which 
we are much less proud, and in some cases 
humbled. Some of our health and safety 
metrics have been adversely trending,  
partly through improved reporting and 
partly through poorer performance. While 
these safety metrics are in the top 10% when 
benchmarked to other companies, they are 
inconsistent with our commitment to Zero 
Harm and the focus we need to have on 
health and safety within an industry like ours.

Having raised expectations about our 
customer service, we are not delivering on 
these consistently. In some respects that is to 
be expected given the quantum change from 
the past we are asking for; however, there are 
too many examples of where we have scored 
own goals by not being sufficiently attentive 
to what matters to our customers or simply 
taking too long to remediate the gaps we 
know about. 

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE STRAIGHT UP 
9

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE STRAIGHT UP

You can expect safety and customer service 
to be a focus going forward, and I know 
our teams are excited about taking our 
performance to new highs in both of  
these areas.

In the same week that I am writing this report, 
I am finalising plans for the next financial 
year with our Board. After the past three 
years of significant change, the next year 
will be a period of consolidation. This does 
not mean that we back off from any of our 
commitments, slow the momentum in any 
part of our business, or walk away from the 
changes we are calling for within the industry. 
Instead it means that we finish off what we 
have already started, achieve more from our 
underlying business and past investments, 
build the foundations for a faster pace the 
following year, and preserve the sense of 
excitement and innovation that our people 
value in working for Z.

I should also touch on our shareholders’ 
announcement of a possible listing of Z 
Energy on the NZX. While this may be a done 
deal by the time you read this report, at the 
time I am writing this, we are busily preparing 
the company for a potential listing. Given that 
we are a Kiwi, customer-facing business, I am 
particularly excited about the opportunity for 
Z’s customers, bondholders and members of 
the New Zealand public to take an ownership 
stake in a significant Kiwi business.

In a year when our customers and investors 
had more choice and alternatives than they 
have had for a while, I thank all of you for 
your continued support of Z. The 3,000 
odd people who are directly and indirectly 
associated with us as employees, partners 
and contractors really appreciate your 
engagement and feedback, and we do  
not take it for granted in any way.

Right now I am reminded of a saying  
of one of my former bosses: the best is  
yet to come …

Mike Bennetts 
CEO

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE STRAIGHT UP10
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Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE STRAIGHT UP

Marko Bogoievski

Chairman’s Report

It’s been a positive year.  
The “heavy lifting” required 
to complete the initial brand 
rollout and our substantial retail 
investment has been successfully 
completed. Having made the 
transition from global subsidiary 
to a New Zealand-focused brand, 
growing customer preference and 
a healthy lift in same-store sales 
signal that Z is continuing to build 
pleasing momentum. 

We are ahead of where we originally 
expected to be at this point. Our customers 
are responding well, endorsing our belief 
that the measured risk we took with the 
rebranding was the right call and has 
delivered a locally relevant company that  
we will continue to invest in with confidence. 

The headway Z has made has brought new 
and welcome vitality to the sector. This year 
saw the rest of the industry respond to our 
investment pretty much as we expected, with 
tactical retail initiatives and more aggressive, 
volume-based competitive behaviour. While 
we have the means to respond to such tactics, 
and will retain the ability to do so as required, 
ultimately our focus is more long term. It now 
remains to be seen whether others will follow 
our lead and meet the investment challenge 
going forward to address the long-term 
sustainability of the sector. 

The next phase will be important. In the  
year ahead, we will look for returns from  
the significant investments we have made  
in our brand and retail product offering and, 
at the same time, seek to make gains from 
our investment in leadership capability, 
technology, and supply and distribution.  
We will look to consolidate our position 
and see the returns from our investments 
reflected in the bottom line. 

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Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE STRAIGHT UP

Simultaneously, we will advocate for further 
changes to the overall industry structure. 
Partly that’s about investing in the future  
with an open mind. Having supported 
Refining NZ’s expansion plans, we are looking 
for a new economic model that will ensure  
the refinery remains relevant and competitive  
in the years ahead. 

We have strong capability in a local 
management team and owners who are 
looking further than next year’s earnings.  
The challenge we have set for ourselves  
is to strike the right balance between 
representing New Zealand’s interests,  
long-term sustainability for the company  
and meeting our investors’ expectations. 

While we want to consolidate the gains  
made during our first three years, the  
Board is also developing the agenda for 

future investments beyond our current core, 
such as alternative fuels, new technology 
options and our network and distribution 
strategies going forward. 

By the time you read this report, you will  
be aware that Z has registered an Investment 
Statement and Prospectus in preparation  
for a possible share market listing. At the 
time of purchase Z Energy had the challenge 
of transitioning off the Shell global platform, 
new capital investment priorities and 
executing a countrywide rebranding.  
Now, three years on, these challenges  
have been met, and Z has strong cash flows, 
a good dividend outlook and growth options 
which would suit a wider public investor  
base. Given that we see future growth  
options for the company, both Infratil and  
the NZ Superannuation Fund plan to  
retain a combined stake in the company  
of between 40% and 50% post listing. 

The other news to share is that this will  
be my last year as Chairman of Z Energy.  
Given the possible listing, it is appropriate  
for the Chairman of the Board to be 
independent of the major shareholders.  
I will however remain a Director  
with Z Energy, so this is not a goodbye. 

I’d like to take the opportunity to introduce 
you to the incoming Chairman of the Board, 
Peter Griffiths. Peter has been a Director on 
Z’s Board since the company’s inception in 
2010, and has extensive experience in the 
downstream fuel industry, including ten  
years at the helm of one of New Zealand’s 
largest fuel companies. 

We are delighted with the progress made  
and the value that has been created to date  
by Mike and the entire Z team, and I have 
no doubt that Z will continue on its positive 
trajectory under the stewardship of its  
new Chairman, Peter.

Marko Bogoievski  
Chairman

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE STRAIGHT UP12

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE STRAIGHT UP

Meet the Z Board

Marko Bogoievski 
Chairman

Marko is Chief Executive 
Officer of Infratil and Morrison 
& Co. He was previously Chief 
Financial Officer of Telecom 
New Zealand, responsible for 
corporate finance, mergers 
and acquisitions and group 
strategy. He is a director of 
Infratil, TrustPower and an 
alternate director of Auckland 
International Airport. Marko 
holds a Master of Business 
Administration from Harvard 
University.

Marko stepped down as 
Chairman on 25 July 2013,  
but remains a Director on  
the Z Energy Board.

Peter Griffiths 
Director

Peter is an oil industry veteran. 
He has been General Manager 
BP Papua New Guinea and 
Commercial Manager for BP 
New Zealand’s fuel and LPG 
interests. For the last 10 years 
he was Managing Director 
of BP New Zealand and also 
Chairman of BP South West 
Pacific. Peter has served on the 
boards of Refining NZ, Liquigas 
and Bitumix. He is a director of 
Wanganui Gas, New Zealand 
Oil and Gas and New Zealand 
Diving and Salvage. 

Peter transitioned into the role  
of Chairman of Z Energy on  
25 July 2013.

Alan Dunn  
Director

Al knows all about retail and 
business leadership. He was 
Chief Executive Officer and 
Chairman of McDonald’s  
New Zealand from 1993 to 
2004 before heading to 
Chicago to become Vice 
President Operations, then 
Regional Vice President in the 
Nordic region and Managing 
Director of McDonald’s Sweden. 
These days he manages his own 
business, Trumpeter Consulting, 
specialising in business 
leadership and development. 
He is also a director of  
New Zealand Post, Burger Fuel 
Worldwide and a number of 
private companies. 

Abby Foote 
Director

Abby is an experienced director 
of both publicly listed and 
Crown companies. Based in 
Christchurch, she has worked  
in a range of corporate, 
treasury and legal roles over 
the last 20 years. Abby holds 
a number of directorships, 
including as a Director of 
Transpower New Zealand 
and of New Zealand Local 
Government Funding Agency 
Limited, where she chairs the 
Audit and Risk Committee.

Abby joined the Z Board  
in May 2013. 

13

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE STRAIGHT UP

Meet the Z Board

Paul Fowler 
Director

Paul has primary industries in his 
blood. He was the founding Chief 
Executive Officer of Nyrstar NV, 
the world’s largest producer 
of zinc metal. Before that he 
was Chief Operating Officer 
of Zinifex, an Australian zinc 
and lead mining and smelting 
company. He has also been Chief 
Executive Officer of Fletcher 
Challenge Forests and Carter 
Holt Harvey Forests and spent 15 
years with BP in crude oil trading, 
strategic planning, refining and 
retail marketing. Paul has served 
on the boards of Refining NZ and 
Evergreen Forests. 

Justine Munro 
Director

Justine Munro is a New Zealand 
Rhodes Scholar who is globally 
recognised in the fields of 
corporate social responsibility 
and business, community and 
government partnerships. 
Justine is returning to Auckland 
from Sydney where she was 
Executive Director, Education 
at Social Ventures Australia. 
Justine was the founding 
CEO of the New Zealand  
Centre for Social Innovation 
and helped to establish  
New Zealand Global Women 
in 2008. She has also worked 
in Australia and New Zealand 
as a lawyer and strategic 
management consultant.

Justine joined the Z Board  
in May 2013. 

Lib Petagna 
Director

Lib is an Executive Director and 
the Chief Investment Officer of 
Morrison & Co and has led the 
purchase and sale of airport, 
energy and transport assets 
in New Zealand, Australia and 
Europe. Lib is also a director at 
NZ Bus and Infratil Property.

14
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Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE STRAIGHT UP

This is our Executive Team

Rob Wiles 
GM Corporate

Rob has had an international career in corporate 
finance, infrastructure, treasury management, 
mergers and acquisitions, strategy and business 
development. He also has experience in the 
development of start-up businesses. Rob has 
held senior positions with National Australia 
Bank, Bank of New Zealand, South Pacific 
Merchant Finance and the National Bank of  
New Zealand.

Meredith Ussher 
General Counsel &  
Company Secretary

Previously with Todd Energy and the New Zealand 
Racing Board/TAB, Meredith is an experienced 
corporate lawyer in both the energy and retail 
network industries. She also has a strong private 
practice history, having worked at Minter Ellison 
Rudd Watts as a Senior Associate. Within Z she  
has responsibility for all group legal risks as well  
as relevant strategic and legal advice in respect  
of all operational matters including major contracts 
with key suppliers and customers. Meredith is 
also responsible for the Company Secretariat and 
advises on governance matters.

Rob Freeman  
GM Supply & Distribution

Mike Bennetts 
CEO

Before moving to New Zealand, Rob held 
senior management roles in Shell Australia in 
commercial marketing, services, distribution  
and logistics. He is Chair of New Zealand Oil 
Services and a director of Wiri Oil Services.  
Rob is responsible for the fuel supply 
distribution chain, from sourcing in international 
markets to domestic distribution and supply.

Mike became CEO of Z Energy after 25 years 
with BP in a variety of downstream roles in  
New Zealand, China, South Africa, the UK  
and Singapore. His last role was as CEO  
of BP’s Eastern Hemisphere supply and  
trading business.

15
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2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE STRAIGHT UP

Mark Forsyth  
GM Retail

Chris Day 
CFO

Lindis Jones 
GM Commercial

Mark has held management positions with Shell 
in New Zealand, the UK and Ireland. He oversees 
Z Energy’s 200+ service stations and nearly 
100 truck stops, as well as marketing, brand and 
asset management. Mark is a Director of Loyalty 
New Zealand.

Before moving to Z Energy, Chris has held 
general management, Chief Financial Officer 
and Financial Controller roles in a range of listed 
and commercial companies, most recently as 
Financial Controller for Contact Energy and 
before that as Chief Financial Officer for  
AXA New Zealand. He is a member of the  
New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants 
and is a director of Landcorp Farming Limited.

Chris Day joined Z after the end of the 2012/2013 
financial year. He replaces Mark Edghill as CFO,  
and began at Z on 31 July 2013.

Lindis was Head of Property at ANZ National 
Bank, leading a number of significant property 
transactions and developments. Prior to that, 
he was with Shell for 13 years, primarily in retail 
operations and strategy in Europe, Asia and  
New Zealand.

Huma Faruqui  
GM Capability &  
Organisational Development

Before moving here from the UK in late 2003, 
Huma worked in HR roles for Deutsche Bank, 
Cater Allen/Abbey National Bank and Deloitte. 
In New Zealand she has held HR leadership roles 
with Vero Insurance and, most recently, Telecom.

16

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | HAVE THE PASSION

Have the passion

In this section:
Over 250 places to find us
A brand for New Zealanders
Guest column – James Bickford, Interbrand
Helping history flow
The faces of Z
Striving for the fastest service in fuel
Loyal to New Zealanders

Forecourt Concierge Awhi is a star at Z Five Crossroads’ and embodies having the passion. 

Be straight upCienis milibus as simintum qui te nos reste sapel evel exceptatem a sinume inveliquam nos doluptaque volorem 17

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | HAVE THE PASSION

Over 250 
places to 
find us

In 2012 we finished rolling out one 
of the largest rebranding projects 
ever undertaken in New Zealand. 
You can now find Z in over  
250 places: 211 service stations,  
94 truck stops and 50 airfields  
(as at 31 March 2013).  
We continue to invest, opening 
four brand-new service stations 
in the last financial year and 
with plans to open three more 
over the next few months on the 
Taupo Bypass, Vivian Street in 
Wellington and Manukau Road  
in Auckland. In fact, we intend  
to build several new sites a year 
over the next few years.

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Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | HAVE THE PASSION

We’re also ensuring our infrastructure 
remains robust by installing ultra-modern, 
safer, longer-lasting, double-skinned 
underground fuel tanks. While our asset 
integrity programme is perpetual, we have a 
comprehensive re-tanking programme for the 
next 10 years so that our capital expenditure 
is spread evenly.   

In stark contrast to the continued closure, 
retrenchment and consolidation of others in 
this industry, expansion is very much part  
of Z’s agenda – but it is expansion that  
is timed and scaled to meet the needs  
of our customers and to reward our  
investors. We want to be in  
people’s neighbourhoods.

The investment we have made in our brand 
since the launch of Z has seen us build strong 
brand equity. Regular consumer research  
we undertake has shown that Z became  
New Zealand’s most preferred retail fuel 
brand in a very short space of time. However, 
for some people we are not as convenient as 
we could be. So we are building new sites and 
replacing our older, smaller sites with new 
ones that reflect what our customers have 
told us they want. Where we have done this 
already, those investments are performing 
well ahead of our expectations.

We’re also investing in New Zealand outside 
the main centres. We are upgrading our shop 
formats in smaller towns and neighbourhoods 
to provide customers with better, faster 
shopping experiences. Our concept store at 
Taradale is a sign of things to come in that 
respect – welcoming stores designed here in 
New Zealand, built by local contractors and 
providing the speed and convenience our 
customers are asking for. Many of the sites 
we have targeted for upgrades over the next 
couple of years have loyal customers but 
stores that really are looking tired.  
By investing in these sites, we thank the 
people of the area for remaining loyal  
to us over long periods of time and we 
maintain the scale and volume we  
need to continue building a more  
profitable retail business.  

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2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | HAVE THE PASSION

A brand for  
New Zealanders

As part of our goal to become a 
truly world-class company, we’re 
determined to become an iconic 
brand and earn the trust, respect 
and preference of our customers. 
To achieve that, we must deliver 
New Zealand motorists and 
businesses the best experience 
and the best overall value of any 
fuel supplier. 

Combine what we offer with the difference 
we’re helping to make in neighbourhoods, 
and it can be seen that Z is a company 
that’s doing good things and that has a 
value proposition that sets it apart from the 
industry. We’re proud of that reputation and 
work hard to continue to earn and retain it. 

New Zealanders have told us what Z means 
to them. Now we’ve asked brand valuation 
experts Interbrand to quantify and value the 
contribution of our brand to our business.  
To us, our Z brand is an asset; an asset that 
we need to grow into the world-class icon  
we know it can be.

Our regular consumer research shows that Z 
has the highest consideration, availability and 
preference ratings of any fuel brand in the 
country. The number of people saying that 
Z is their first preference also continues to 
increase. Most importantly, over the past year 
we continued to create increasing numbers of 
what we call “raving fans”, the customers who 
say that we are the top performer across all 
the brand attributes that we measure. 

We are now two years ahead of schedule in 
hitting our brand targets, and are growing 
into our brand’s potential.

We’ve struck a chord. New Zealanders tell  
us every day that they get our story and  
they relate to our brand personality – 
youthful, independent, passionate and  
always optimistic. The fact that Z is a  
New Zealand company helping fill up the  
NZ Superannuation Fund is important, but  
we know it’s not enough. There has to be 
more – and in our case, that means clear 
and distinct offers such as a friendly helpful 
experience, forecourt concierges, speed,  
Fly Buys rewards and great Z Espress coffee. 

5
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Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | HAVE THE PASSION

Guest column  
James Bickford,  
Managing Director – New Zealand for Interbrand

The importance of 
building a strong 
brand and the 
contribution of brand 
to business results

Why is it important to build 
a strong brand? Many would 
think that brands are just 
consumer products we see 
on shelves or showrooms, yet 
all businesses boast a brand, 
whether strong or incredibly 
weak. Unfortunately most don’t 
realise the true potential of a 
brand. When well harnessed, 
a brand delivers growth to the 
business, with benefits not only 
to the shareholder but also to the 
many audiences that the brand 
interacts with. 

From a financial perspective, a brand is a 
business asset that when managed well 
reduces risk in terms of future return. From 
a human perspective, great brands create 
belief and belonging; they encompass 
organisational culture as well as customer 
delight. They are a mark of credibility, quality 
and consistency of experience not only for 
customers, but for employees, partners and 
the public at large. 

At Interbrand, we therefore define brands  
as “living business assets, brought to  
life across all touch points, which, if  
properly managed, create identification,  
differentiation and value”. If you think of 
brands as living business assets, then you 
start to think of them as being alive, organic, 
fluid and dynamic.

They do need managing, but brands also 
need to be protected and intuitively nurtured 
if they are to grow and reach their full 

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Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | HAVE THE PASSION

potential. This is especially true in a highly 
social age, when brand owners no longer 
have total control.

Make no mistake; brands are there to 
realise business objectives. This is achieved 
through driving preference for the goods 
or services that the business provides. 
Brands are differentiating. This leads to a 
greater perception of value in the eyes of 
the customer when compared to unbranded 
offerings such as commodities.

Brands create continuity in demand, thereby 
making expected returns likelier – while 
reducing risk.

A strong brand benefits not only a business’ 
core offerings, but also other products and 
services that the business produces. A halo of 
reputation is built on the attributes associated 
with the initial core offer.

Think of the power the Virgin name carries to 
the many start-up businesses it embarks upon 
each year. Without the influence of its strong 
recognisable brand, embodying customer 
advocacy and irreverence, these businesses 
would encounter considerably greater risk in 
their initial and ongoing operations. 

A strong brand benefits not only 
a business’ core offerings, but 
also other products and services 
that the business produces. A 
halo of reputation is built on the 
attributes associated with the 
initial core offer. 

In this manner, a brand provides credible 
stretch for a business, to the point that 
a strong brand can actually guide the 
development of the business, beyond 
just capitalising on apparent market 
opportunities. The global brand BIC serves 
as an example of this. BIC made its name 
through the development of the disposable 
biro, a market it still exerts considerable 
influence over, despite intense competition. 
In looking to expand, rather than merely 
searching for other opportunities in the pen 
or stationery market, BIC was guided by its 
brand’s proposition of making consumers’ 
lives easier through something simple yet 
reliable. This led it into endeavours such as 
disposable lighters, shavers and even racing 
dinghies for children; all of which adhered to 
the brand’s core proposition, despite being in 
disparate market sectors. 

By expressing their proposition across all 
touch points, brands help shape perceptions 
and, therefore purchase behaviour, making 
products and services less substitutable.

Brands can drive businesses in an era of  
more demanding customers in which 
purchase decisions are more fluid, better 
informed and dynamic. Over a decade ago, 
The Financial Times classed brands as the 
ultimate source of sustainable, competitive 
advantage. More recently, The Economist 
stated branded businesses enjoy margins 
double that of their counterparts. 

Why? Most of us have always wanted to 
experience brands as a series of seamless, 
connected experiences, where visiting 
an organisation’s retail outlet, talking to a 
staff member, visiting their website and the 
experience of the product or service all feel 
the same.

Interbrand has, for over a decade, valued 
the world’s best brands. The brand valuation 
process is now ISO certified and the valuation 
expressed as a figure. Global best brands 
understand the importance of building  
brand value and putting it at the core of  
their business.

Brand value is not just a question of how 
much – it is, more importantly, about how  
and why.

James Bickford 
Interbrand

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | HAVE THE PASSION 
 
 
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2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | HAVE THE PASSION

Helping 
history flow

This year we unearthed a unique 
find on Vivian Street in Wellington 
and then worked closely with 
local iwi and the Historic Places 
Trust to respect and preserve 
what had taken place there and 
honour the history of the city.  

Z Vivian Street prior to opening day.

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Z ENERGY

In 2012, Z made the decision to build a new 
Z site on a vacant lot on Vivian Street in 
Wellington that we owned. However, not long 
after excavations began, we unearthed a 
beautiful Victorian double-brick barrel vault 
drain running through the site.

Further investigation revealed that the drain 
itself enclosed the Waimapihi stream, a 
waterway running from the Aro Valley down 
underneath the city to Wellington harbour. 
The stream in its headwaters is a beautiful 
clear creek that holds special cultural 
significance to local Māori, because a revered 
elder used the stream to bathe in. ‘Wai’ 
means water, and ‘Mapihi’ was the name of 
the revered ancestor.

Recognising the area’s cultural and historical 
value, excavation was halted, and we worked 
with local Māori trust the Port Nicholson 
Block Settlement Trust and the Historic Places 
Trust to find a way to enable development to 
continue, while honouring both the history 
and the cultural importance of the site. In 
order for Z to install its tanks underground, 
the stream needed to be diverted around the 
station site and then reconnected to the brick 
drain on the other side.

The bricks from the removed section of the 
drain on the site were used by accomplished 
Wellington artist Ra Vincent to create a 
memorial at the service station that reflects 

the history of the area, with an accompanying 
information board. Ra came to this project 
immediately after the conclusion of his work 
on the set of The Hobbit; he also created the 
nine-metre-high Gandalf sculpture that was 
erected atop the Embassy Theatre for the 
premiere of the movie.

As he neared completion of his sculpture for 
the Vivian Street site, Ra was nominated for 
an Academy Award for his work on set design 
for The Hobbit. Despite the travel to and from 
the United States that this nomination led to, 
the sculpture was completed on time, and Z 
Vivian Street now boasts a tourist attraction 
in its own right!

The original path of the stream is marked  
on the forecourt as a sign of respect, and so  
New Zealanders can trace the path of a little 
bit of history. 

This project represented a journey of learning 
for Z and the beginning of a partnership with 
local Māori that has enriched the normally 
mechanical process of service station build 
with cultural learning and understanding.

The opening of the new site, together with the 
blessing and unveiling of the sculpture, took place  
in April 2013. 

The Waimapihi memorial sculpture at the Vivian Street site by Ra Vincent.

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | HAVE THE PASSION9
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Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | HAVE THE PASSION

The faces of Z

One of our strengths as a company is that we think centrally and 
deliver locally. We thought you might like to meet some of the people 
at the heart of what we consider to be our competitive advantage.

Meet Selwyn Cook and the  
team at Z Five Crossroads 

Selwyn Cook, the Z Retailer for Hamilton, 
takes a huge amount of pride in his staff and 
the care taken to make sure he gets the right 
person for the right job. 

“One of the absolute pleasures of doing 
this job over the last 22 years has been the 
changes we can make in peoples’ lives. Those 
changes can be for the staff, our customers  
or even for me.” 

Selwyn knows that finding the right people 
is crucial to the Z  brand, so his team works 
closely with Workbridge who have helped 
him and his team introduce some pretty 
fantastic and special people to their team;  
45 in total. 

Ross McKenzie, an employment consultant 
with Workbridge said: “The people that 
we have enrolled with us are pretty 
representative of the talents that exist across 
the whole Hamilton community. We have 
people with educational qualifications, and 
people with no qualifications; what they all 
have is a willingness and capacity to work, 
and the desire to work. 

One of the people who joined Z from 
Workbridge with the passion and  
enthusiasm for working at Z Five Cross  
Roads is Awhi Horn.

Awhi is a Forecourt Concierge and says of 
her work: “My community is really awesome. 
If you  are  genuine and straight up with your 
customers  you can help them with almost 
anything, whether it is with their  petrol or 
whether it is the little things like advising 
them whether they can wash their windscreen 
when it has a crack – you can but it depends 
on the pressure.”

Awhi says her favourite vest is her Z one. 
“Basically I’ve worn it almost every  
single day and I have pride in it  
whenever I put it on. It says ‘I am the 
Forecourt Concierge’; it’s like my red 
Superman cape. When I put it on it  
makes me feel proud; it makes me  
be present; it makes me to do all  
the things Z have taught me to do.” 

Selwyn says about using  
Workbridge, it’s not about  
finding staff, it is about finding  
people, “people who are happy  
to serve our customers, who  
enjoy this environment, and  
want to deliver that Z Factor.”  

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Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | HAVE THE PASSION

The faces of Z

Meet Hamish Wright

Hamish has been a Retailer for Z for 10 years. 
Before getting into the fuel industry, he 
worked in hospitality. Today he runs eight 
sites spread out from central to eastern 
Christchurch: Belfast, Shirley, New Brighton, 
Linwood, Woolston, Brougham St, Moorhouse 
and Carlton Corner. All up, Hamish’s cluster 
employs around 85 staff.

Hamish is the first to admit he’s a glutton for 
hard work. Having been in the hospitality 
industry, he’s used to managing staff and 
service needs in an industry that operates 
seven days a week. He credits his Site Leaders 
with developing a truly caring and friendly 
environment at each site, and says that in this 
business no two days are ever the same. The 
only consistencies are interruptions and calls. 
In fact, Hamish reckons he hasn’t turned his 
phone off since he started in the fuel industry. 

One of the things he really loves about the 
culture at Z and the new food offer is that 
it gives Z people so many opportunities to 
interact with other staff and with customers. 
Work, he says, is about having fun and 
enjoying the theatre of making a decent  
cup of coffee!

Just as no two days are the same, neither  
are any two sites. Some stations have a  
strong commercial bias and are patronised  
by contractors and car yard operators.  
At other sites, particularly those in suburban 
areas, staff regularly deal with mum or 
dad rushing in for milk and bread. At New 
Brighton, a neighbour keeps an eye on the 
site when it’s closed. At Belfast, another 
regular shops in the store every morning  
for his groceries. He never buys fuel, because 
he doesn’t drive. With so many colourful 
characters, few things take Hamish and his 
staff by surprise any more.

Passionate about developing people, Hamish 
and his team have been working with LSV 
(Limited Service Volunteers), running a 
campaign to employ some of their graduates 
by offering them fulltime work in the business 
so that they have a positive pathway once 
they finish their LSV course. They’ve also 
established a relationship with the Canterbury 
Touch Association, sponsoring a drinks 
caravan at their home tournaments and 
helping their teams to fundraise by offering 
carwashes at one site on Saturday mornings.

There’s never too much time away from work, 
but when he does get a chance to slip away, 
Hamish enjoys watching his family play sport, 
mountain biking, cricket and cheering for the 
Crusaders in the Super Rugby competition.

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Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | HAVE THE PASSION

The faces of Z

Meet Wayne Kennerley

Wayne looks after 11 Z service stations in 
South Auckland stretching from Waiuku and 
Pukekohe to Manukau, with 103 staff. He’s 
been with Shell and then Z for seven years 
now, before which he worked in corporate 
roles for Mars, Goodman Fielder and Bluebird 
Foods.  Prior to that, Wayne was something 
of an entrepreneur – starting a vending 
machine business at a time when the industry 
was still in its infancy and he was attending 
Waikato University. He later sold the business 
to Bluebird Foods. 

Wayne says he chose to work for Z because 
he wanted to be self-employed and also to 
put the skills he had developed while in the 
corporate world to good use. He’s inspired 
every day, he says, by the hardworking, 
professional, passionate teams he has around 
him. Take Prem, who has worked for Shell and 
now Z for 20 years. He may be eligible for 
the pension but he turns up without fail to Z 
Manurewa where he provides great customer 
service. Wayne says he loves seeing the 
smile on Prem’s face and the huge sense of 
enjoyment he brings to his work. It’s inspiring 
for everyone, he says, to have people on your 
team who don’t need to work but continue to 
do so because they truly want to. 

Nearly all of Wayne’s site leaders started 
out on the frontline, and new staff members 
quickly come to understand that if they are 
keen to work hard, learn and develop their 
leadership skills within their community, they 
really do have the opportunity to operate a 
site that in itself is a large business. 

Every day is different. Some days, Wayne’s 
on site coaching the team and looking at how 
to improve the store and interactions with 
customers. Another day he’ll be working with 
a local community. The next day he could be 
involved in a strategic discussion about how Z 
can improve the customer experience. Then, 
there are those days when he must react to 
the incidents that can occur in a business that 
pumps 70 million litres of fuel per year.

Running a cluster is not the easiest job in the 
world. Wayne says he can’t be certain if hair 
loss is a side-effect of running a business this 
big, but he’s not ruling it out. Seriously, his 
worst moments have involved dealing with 
armed robberies. But, for all that, there are 
two things this Retailer loves about his job. 
The first is providing opportunities to staff to 
develop themselves into professional business 
leaders. The second is witnessing staff and 

customers enjoying their experience at Z. It 
brings a smile to his face when he overhears 
an interaction where a staff member not only 
knows a customer’s name, but they also know 
exactly how they like their coffee. In fact, the 
team will often have that coffee ready for that 
customer before the person has even made it 
to the till.  

In addition to Z’s Good in the Hood 
programme, Wayne supports the South 
Auckland Food Bank by providing them with 
goods that the stations are no longer selling 
but that are still fine to eat. 

Outside of work, Wayne is a keen gardener 
and landscaper.

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Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | HAVE THE PASSION

The faces of Z

Meet Raswinder Singh  
and Tarmindar Kaur

Raswinder (Ras) and Tarmindar operate  
11 stations in Upper and Lower Hutt, Kapiti 
Coast and Masterton. They employ 102 staff, 
and have been with Z for the last three years.

Ras grew up in Perth, trained as a 
radiographer and became Head of the 
Radiology Department at Casey Hospital in 
Melbourne. But even as he walked the wards, 
he found his passion for business continuing 
to grow. That passion would lead him to enrol 
at the Melbourne Business School and inspire 
him to focus his managerial skills on retail. 
Tarmindar is a lawyer, who worked in criminal 
and family law before moving to dispute 
resolution and corporate governance at the 
Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.  

Both say they chose Z because they wanted 
to work in a business environment that was 
not stuck in the past. They love Z’s fresh 
approach to the industry, and enjoy Z’s 
willingness to adapt to local needs quickly. 
“If our customers want flowers, we are quick 
to respond and get flowers on site,” says Ras. 
“We can do this with Z rather than being the 
standard 1980s-style service station.” 

The couple say they believe in hard work, and 
in letting staff bring their own personalities 
to the job. They are lucky, they say, to have 
people working for them who go well beyond 
what is required. 

Each station in their cluster, they say, is a  
true mix of the best of New Zealand. Z 
Levin is home to fervent grassroots rugby 
supporters; Masterton Z has its Wairarapa 
Supergrans who fill up at the station and 
provide great services to the community;  
Z Mana and Kapiti serve the boaties well  
with bait and refreshments. 

Ras and Tarmindar encourage community 
involvement and have been able to support 
several charities at each of their stations, 
including the Hutt Hospital Children’s Ward, 
Bellyful (which provides cooked meals 
for new mums), Masterton Athletics, the 
New Zealand Para Olympians, Trentham 
Community House, Paraparaumu Red Cross 
“Meals on wheels”, Hutt City Kindergarten, 
the Clean Up the Beach Petone initiative and 
the Salvation Army’s “Capturing the Heart of 
the Community” campaign.

They say they really enjoy training and 
developing staff to provide world-class 
customer service and actively encourage 
the people who work for them to bring their 
personalities to the job. The icing on the 
cake for them is that they get to live and 
work in a beautiful part of New Zealand with 
the pristine Kapiti coast on one side and the 
Rimutaka Ranges on the other.

When they’re not at work, Ras enjoys sailing, 
golf and spending the day at a local park 
with their son, Akaal. For her part, Tarmindar 
enjoys reading, swimming and sending Akaal 
to the park with his Dad.

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2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | HAVE THE PASSION

Striving for the  
fastest service  
in fuel

Nobody ever wants to wait. To 
ensure our customers are served 
as quickly as possible, this year 
we rolled out a $12 million project 
to replace the electronic point of 
sale systems in all of Z’s service 
stations and truck stops.

The initiative shifts Z’s service from a slow, 
20-year-old system to state-of-the-art, 
Kiwi-made technology with industry-leading 
speed. It has already cut average EFTPOS 
transaction times by as much as 60%, 
enabling our customers to get in and out of 
our sites as quickly as possible.

Cutting 10 seconds off a transaction time 
may not sound significant in itself, but in a 
business that undertakes tens of thousands 
of transactions a day – or approximately 60 

million per year – the time savings certainly 
add up, especially at peak times. For 
customers, a minute is valuable time when 
you’re standing in a queue.

The new platform also lays the groundwork 
for future initiatives. One of these is Pay-at-
Pump, which we are currently trialling at five 
sites and looking to roll out nationwide over 
the next year. This will mean that many “fuel 
only” customers will no longer have to come 
inside to pay; they’ll get the convenience of 
paying right at the pump.

Combine these initiatives with new stretchy 
fuel hoses at most sites to make it easier to 
refuel, diesel available on more pumps and 
guaranteed forecourt concierge service 
available from 10am to 5pm on every site, 
every day, and it’s clear we’re listening to 
what people want in terms of greater speed 
and great service. 

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2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | HAVE THE PASSION

Loyal to  
New Zealanders

Our customers love Fly Buys,  
and no wonder. 72% of  
New Zealand households have 
a Fly Buys card – and the only 
fuel company where Fly Buys 
customers are rewarded is Z.

There’s an extra incentive for New Zealanders 
to buy their fuel, food, drinks and other 
products from Z – Fly Buys. Z owns a 25% 
share in Loyalty New Zealand, the  
company behind Fly Buys, and with over  
2.4 million cardholders and 7.9 million 
rewards redeemed since Fly Buys began  
in 1996, Fly Buys is a great Kiwi success  
story in its own right. 

This year, Fly Buys met customers’ wishes 
for more choices in how they receive their 
rewards by introducing instant reward draws. 
Customers making purchases of any amount 
go into the draw to win up to $100,000 
in cash. In a much more competitive retail 
environment where most people receive a 
discount of some sort, the battle lines are 
being drawn around value. Fly Buys is a key 
part of our value offering, and we’ll continue 
to listen to what customers want when it 
comes to how we reward them through  
Fly Buys. 

100% recognition

100% brand recognition in New Zealand.

50+ partner businesses

Including Z of course.

3,000 outlets

Almost 3,000 outlets nationwide – 
including all Z stations.

2.4m+ people

Over 2.4 million people collect Fly Buys 
points in New Zealand.

750,000+ rewards received 

750,000+ rewards received in the past 
year alone.

7.9m rewards redeemed

7.9 million rewards redeemed since  
Fly Buys began in 1996.

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Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE BOLD

Be bold

In this section:
Commercial decisions 
Supporting the backbone of New Zealand’s economy 
Saving money on your fuel bill 
More ways to fuel New Zealand 
Our supply chain 
Z on the road 
An industry in need of investment 
Alternative(s) thinking 
Biofuel: A future in progress 
CO2 emissions profile 
Our progress on sustainability 

Retail Sales Manager Richard Barker is an ironman and perfectly comfortable in open water. 

Be straight upCienis milibus as simintum qui te nos reste sapel evel exceptatem a sinume inveliquam nos doluptaque volorem  
31

Z ENERGY

Commercial 
Decisions

This year saw a significant rethink 
of our commercial business as we 
looked to make dealing with us 
simpler, faster and easier for our 
valued commercial customers.  
At the same time, we took 
deliberate steps to achieve best 
use of our capital and protect the 
financial integrity of our business. 

Seven major projects aimed at improving  
our people, processes and systems 
capabilities have been completed or are  
close to completion. 

is dissatisfied with the service provided. By 
contrast, the Z approach is to invest in those 
areas that will enable a simpler and faster 
experience for our customers. 

Resetting our ability to deliver on the 
service expectations of our customers and 
adding meaningful value for New Zealand 
businesses requires a deliberate approach. 
Our industry has traditionally responded 
to historically unsustainable margins by 
reducing service levels to such an extent that 
the average business customer in our industry 

At the same time we’ve been more disciplined 
about ensuring we earn a fair return on our 
investments in serving customers. We have 
focused on the customers whose businesses 
we can add value to, adjusted our pricing  
to make it more realistic and looked to 
achieve acceptable returns on the capital 
we need to invest to service our customers. 
As a result, we have lost a couple of 
customers who we had been selling fuel 
to uneconomically. It is sad to end these 
relationships, especially given the length of 
the relationships concerned and the safe 
efficient supply we provided, but the capital 
we have released and elevated returns have 
resulted in a more profitable business. 

We have confirmed our relationships 
with some of New Zealand’s most iconic 
companies, including Higgins and Fulton 
Hogan. We value these relationships highly, 
and are proud to be associated with these 
two iconic New Zealand firms. Together 
they represent a significant proportion of 
the work being done to firm up horizontal 
infrastructure across the country. While both 

Fuel sales to businesses account for half of Z’s transactions by volume

Z commercial fuel sales

Diesel
55.13%

Aviation 
24.34%

Marine 
12.22%

Bitumen
5.64%

Petrol
2.10%

Other
0.21%

were with our predecessors for more  
than 50 years, we have only discussed their 
first contract rollovers with Z this past year. 
We also confirmed our relationship with 
Southfuels, our partner in servicing the fuel 
needs of rural New Zealand. 

There’s been a real focus on how we can 
add value to our customers. A more decisive 
approach to acceptable returns has been 
accompanied by initiatives like Fuelwise, 
to help our customers achieve the lowest 
total cost for their fuel. Where appropriate, 
we have also explored a wider range of 
arrangements, including fixed pricing for 
customers that need greater cost certainty 
for their businesses. 

We see our future not simply in the sale of 
commodities but in providing simple and 
efficient solutions that help our customers 
manage and reduce their overall fuel spend. 
At the same time, we continue to optimise  
our supply chain to ensure we can deliver 
essential products efficiently and sustainably. 

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE BOLD32

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE BOLD

Supporting the 
backbone of  
New Zealand’s 
economy

One thing we began to realise as we started 
to better understand our customers was 
that we were not paying enough attention 
to small to medium enterprises (SMEs). 
Historically, fuel companies have not shown 
much interest in such businesses, which 
form a significant percentage of the overall 
economy. By specifically targeting those 
SME segments that rely heavily on fuel, and 
by developing products and services that 
suit their ways of working, Z is looking to 
build its presence with these businesses.

Some of the things we’re doing include 
working alongside chambers of commerce, 
the SME accounting software company Xero 
and Cardplus to lift service levels to some  
of the 450,000 SMEs in New Zealand.  
By lifting our capacity to serve them on 
a more individualised basis, we intend to 
increase the value they receive from us.

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Z ENERGY

Saving money 
on your fuel bill

Fuel can account for up to  
25% of operating costs for our 
larger customers. Our Fuelwise 
service provides large users  
with clear and practical steps  
to reduce their fuel bills, bringing  
a significant improvement to 
their bottom line.  

We have made a public stand that by 2015  
Z will have a game-changing, leading or 
active position in four key sustainability  
areas. This includes a commitment, in the  
area of carbon intensity, that by 2015,  
“with Z’s help, customers have reduced  
their fuel consumption and been rewarded  
for their efficiency”. 

Helping companies save on fuel may seem 
counter-intuitive for a fuel company. However, 
we are finding that it makes us more valuable 
to our customers and completely changes 
the conversations that they have with us. 
They see our participation in helping them 
reduce their operating costs as a clear point 
of difference. They are also more inclined 
to buy fuel from us at a more economically 
sustainable margin because it still costs them 
less overall. 

Based on a significant amount of international 
research, Z believes that there are potential 
fuel savings of 5 to 20% to be made in almost 
every business. Given that fuel can represent 
15 to 25% of a customer’s operating costs and 
profit margins are often as slim as 1 to 4%, 
these sorts of savings will make a significant 
bottom-line impact. For example, if fuel 
makes up 15% of a company’s operating costs 
and they have a profit margin of 3%, a 10% 

saving in fuel equates to 1.5% percentage 
points or a 50% increase in that company’s 
profit margin!

In our high fixed cost, low margin business, 
selling 20% less volume would only need a 
3% price increase in order for Z to remain 
fiscally neutral and our customers to 
save substantially. We believe that saving 
customers 15% on their fuel bill if we only 
need to recover 3% of that seems like a win-
win situation for customers, Z and our natural 
environment. What’s more, research has 
shown that drivers who improve their driving 
from a fuel efficiency perspective  
also become safer drivers. 

Despite the potentially significant financial 
benefits available from saving fuel, there are 
a range of reasons why progress across the 
heavy transport industry has been limited. 
These include a lack of awareness of the 
actual benefits, a perception that the effort 
to achieve savings is unjustified, a lack of 
understanding of what’s needed to achieve 
savings and a lack of meaningful and useful 
data on fuel use.

It was pertinent and very timely that the 
Energy Efficiency and Conservation  
Authority (EECA) launched its Heavy  

Vehicle Fuel Efficiency programme in 2012. 
The programme aims to deliver fuel savings 
of at least 15 million litres by 2014 and reduce 
carbon emissions by around 40,000 tonnes. 

Z now has an EECA-accredited, in-house 
Heavy Vehicle Performance Advisor, and  
we are offering his expertise in heavy vehicle 
fuel savings to our customers – by itself, or 
as part of our broader fuel management 
Fuelwise offer. 

While saving money on fuel is not a new or 
novel idea, we are seeing a growing desire 
from our customers to look more closely at 
fuel use, primarily because of the impact 
on company profitability but also because 
of a focus on environmental sustainability. 
Technology developments over the last few 
years have made managing fuel use simpler. 
This represents a great opportunity to make a 
quantum leap in managing and reducing fuel 
usage, because we are much better placed to 
measure and monitor performance.

In addition to this new activity, our direct into 
machinery operations, Mini-Tankers, already 
save many of our customers thousands of 
litres in fuel consumption by delivering fuel 
exactly where they need it, wherever they are. 

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE BOLD34

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE BOLD

More ways to 
fuel New Zealand

In our third year as a  
New Zealand company, we 
continue to demonstrate our 
ability as a stand-alone fuel 
business that can consistently  
and reliably deliver high-quality 
fuel products to customers  
where and when they need it,  
and at competitive prices. 

Z is the only major, national fuel retailer in 
New Zealand that is not part of a global 
oil-producing company. What has become 
increasingly apparent to us in the last three 
years is that we have more choices and 
flexibility when it comes to sourcing crude  
oil and refined products.  

Most of the fuel we sell in New Zealand 
continues to be imported as crude oil refined 
at New Zealand’s only oil refinery, Refining 
NZ at Marsden Point. However, New Zealand 
uses more fuel than the refinery can deliver, 
and over the last year, we have been meeting 
this additional demand through a supply 

agreement with a large, modern Asian 
refinery. We selected this particular supplier 
because the petrol and diesel they produce 
meet New Zealand’s very high and specific 
fuel specifications, they are reliable and the 
price is right. One year on, the quality remains 
consistently high, and we have already saved 
approximately $5 million in annual costs.

Additionally, we have recently signed a new 
three-year supply contract with one of the 
world’s largest crude oil traders. The new 
contract ensures we have better access to the 
right crudes, at the right times at competitive 
prices. We have the ability to select the crude 
oils we want as well as the regions we want  
to import from. We expect this new contract 
to generate annual cost savings of around  
$3 million in our supply chain. 

We still believe that further investment in  
New Zealand’s fuel infrastructure is  
necessary to strengthen the supply chain  
and increase efficiency. Most of the country’s 
fuel infrastructure operates under fuel 
industry joint venture agreements. These  
joint ventures have operated for years to 
provide coastal shipping and facilities, 
and have worked, to a point. They have 

helped keep down short-term costs for the 
companies concerned, but provide limited 
incentive for reinvestment and maintenance 
of existing infrastructure assets. Z continues 
to push for agreements that operate on a 
transparent, competitive and commercial 
footing, and that encourage reinvestment, 
which we believe is the right thing for  
New Zealand. 

We continue to look for investments  
that can increase security of supply for  
New Zealand while increasing the efficiency 
of our supply chain. As we indicated last year, 
we are looking to invest up to 40 million litres 
of new bulk fuel storage over the next couple  
of years. We are in the preliminary 
engineering and resource consenting 
phases for significant investments at Mount 
Maunganui and Lyttelton. Greater storage 
capacity at these ports would enable us to 
use bigger ships for imports, saving on  
freight and providing greater security of 
supply at more competitive rates. On top  
of the 30 million litres of storage we 
commissioned at Lyttelton in 2011, this 
additional tankage will address some of  
the infrastructure deficit that has been 
allowed to develop over previous decades. 

We’re approaching a defining moment in  
how fuel is transported around New Zealand.  
With the industry’s two coastal shipping 
vessels due for review in November 2014, 
there are options to retire, replace or re-
charter these vessels at the end of 2014. 
Some of the questions that need to be asked 
include what the optimal number and size 
of ships needed are, whether they should be 
purpose-built and whether coastal shipping 
itself holds up against the option of importing 
point-to-point. We are looking for decisions 
that deliver the best value in terms of unit 
cost, and that means all options are currently 
still on the table. 

Overall, Z’s supply and distribution strategy 
is on track, our industry arrangements are 
slowly but surely moving towards a realistic 
commercial footing and we continue to look 
for smart investment opportunities that can 
lower our unit cost or provide us with sources 
of distinction. 

35

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE BOLD

Our supply chain

Delivering fuel to our customers is a complex operation that requires an extensive and robust supply chain. It begins with the 
procurement of crude oil and refined fuel products, and finishes with the delivery of refined fuel products to customers.

It’s extracted
Crude oil is extracted from beneath the earth’s 
surface via oil wells from all over the world.  
Z does not explore or drill for oil so we have  
to purchase it on the international oil market.

It’s shipped
Crude oil and refined products are then shipped 
from international ports to New Zealand.

We distribute it
The refined products are shipped, trucked  
or piped to terminals around New Zealand.

1

2

3

5

Piped

Shipped

Shipped

Trucked

Extraction

Open market

International
ports

Shipped

Crude Oil

Refined Oil

4

Marsden Point 
refinery

NZ terminals

Piped

Shipped

6

Retail

6

Commercial

We buy it
We buy crude oil and refined products (petrol and 
diesel) on the international oil market. Most of the 
crude oil Z imports is from the Middle East and Asia. 
The refined products we buy are imported from Asia.

It arrives
Crude oil arrives at Marsden Point where the crude 
is refined into petrol, diesel, jet fuel, fuel oil and 
bitumen. Refined products are shipped and piped 
straight to terminals around New Zealand.

You use it
The fuel products are then trucked to service 
stations, truck stops, aviation pumps and 
commercial customers around New Zealand,  
ready for our customers to use.

36

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE BOLD

Z on the road

At Z we have 96 drivers

driving 38 trucks

Trend: Down on last year due to smaller activity  
(less volume and lower distance travelled).

Trend: Lower than last year due to smaller activity  
(less volume and lower distance travelled) and improved efficiency.

they travelled 7.3 million kilometres, the equivalent of 10 round trips to the moon
Trend: Lower than last year due to smaller activity (less volume and lower distance travelled) and improved efficiency.

Increasing our on-road efficiency

Our fuel products are imported or refined, 
piped and shipped to bulk storage terminals 
at the country’s main ports and Auckland’s 
Wiri terminal, and delivered by road to our 
commercial customers, truck stops and 
retail outlets. This year, we implemented 
an industry-leading delivery and demand 
forecasting tool to reduce product returns, 
trucks needing to be rerouted and distances 
travelled. In the first 12 months, the resulting 
efficiency gains have already saved us twice 
the cost of investment, not to mention 
the carbon emissions saved from fewer 
kilometres on the road. 

Fuels we deliver

Diesel, petrol, avgas, jet fuel, fuel oils.

Frequency of delivery

Varies greatly, from several loads to a site 
each day to only once a year.

and delivered 1.7 billion litres of fuel; that’s enough fuel that an average car could drive to Neptune and  
back twice. Trend: About the same as last year.

37

Z ENERGY

An industry 
in need of 
investment

We continue to have significant 
concerns about the state of  
New Zealand’s fuel infrastructure 
after decades of deferred 
investment. That said, we’re 
committed to leading the industry 
onto a more commercial and 
economically sustainable footing.

In last year’s annual review, we highlighted 
the gap that has emerged in bulk fuel  
storage investment, which has been static 
while fuel demand has grown considerably.  
The consequence has been much greater 
use of trucking; for example, all petrol in the 
Taranaki region is now trucked into the region 
from either Wellington or Mount Maunganui.

We continue to see a reluctance to invest 
capital in New Zealand’s infrastructure.  
Z was one of only two oil company 
shareholders that voted in favour of a  
$365 million expansion of Refining NZ  
that would enable greater levels of  
domestic fuel production. In our view,  
the less than unanimous approval for  
this project is an indication of how the  
New Zealand downstream fuel industry  
is continuing to evolve and fragment.

A key part of the problem has been old 
industry arrangements from when the four 
main fuel companies had equal market share, 
selling the same products into the same 
markets. This is now far from the case, and 
old agreements are no longer serving the 

industry or New Zealand well. In fact, they  
are a barrier to much-needed investment.

From industry arrangements on access 
to the Marsden Point refinery to the way 
terminals are operated on a “cost recovery” 
basis, there is a lack of commercial rigour 
in the downstream fuels sector that we are 
committed to changing. We want to ensure 
the refinery recognises and rewards scale 
and remains competitive against increasingly 
competitive fuel imports, and to ensure 
terminals recover the capital employed in them. 

Why would anybody spend tens of millions 
of dollars on bulk storage tanks and then let 
competitors use them for only the cost of 
operation? It would be like building a brand 
new house and renting it out for only the cost 
of local council rates. The answer is nobody 
would, and nobody has. 

This is why we’re actively talking about 
commercial arrangements right across 
our supply chain. Better commercial 
arrangements will likely result in incentive for 
investment, and therefore better security of 
supply, to the benefit of all fuel consumers. 

Refining NZ at Marsden Point, Whangarei.

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE BOLD38

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE BOLD

Alternative(s) 
thinking

This will be an important decade for transport 
energy. There have been significant developments 
in alternate fuel technologies, with increasing  
levels of commercialisation. On the other side  
of the equation, an international shale oil and  
gas revolution has caused a rethink of the concept  
of ‘peak oil’. 

Z Bitumen and Business Development Manager Paul Prendergast plays some racquet sport with Charlie.

39

For the first time in about a decade, the 
world is looking at a significant increase  
in the production of oil and gas. This has 
led to slowing momentum on investment 
in renewable fuels. In fact, according to the 
Chief Economist of the International Energy 
Agency, last year was the worst year for 
investment in renewable energy globally  
in a decade. 

So what does this mean for Z? As a  
company that’s not an oil producer, we are 
not wedded to fossil fuels and we’re looking 
to do the right thing for New Zealand. At Z 
we believe that climate change is real and 
accelerated by human activity, and we want 
to move from being a part of the problem  
to being at the heart of a solution. 

The rapid growth in shale oil and gas 
production makes the introduction of 
alternate fuels more challenging, but that 
doesn’t mean for one moment that we 
shouldn’t be looking at the alternatives. 

It’s not just about climate change.  
The next two decades are going to see 
increasing options for transport energy, 
and New Zealand can either be near the 
front of the curve or at the end of the line. 
Looking ahead now and building capability 
in alternative fuel will better enable us, as  
a nation, to choose what suits our needs 
and has maximum benefit for New Zealand, 
instead of defaulting to whatever the  
second hand transport market brings us. 

We’re not looking at an overnight revolution 
– the evolution of energy sources to 
mainstream energy supplies is measured 
in decades rather than years. Taking a look 

back over the last couple of hundred years,  
it is not unusual for transitions between 
major energy sources to take time. Even 
petroleum took over 30 years to gain 
traction, and another 30 years before it 
overtook coal as the most highly consumed 
energy source.  

New Zealand’s transport?” We’re currently working on an alternative energy strategy that  
not only looks at doing the right thing for New Zealand but also ensures the long-term viability 
of our business. Biofuels is something we’re interested in right now and which you can read 
about further down this page, but we’ll also be taking the time to explore the full range of 
opportunities and appraise them thoroughly for effectiveness, fit with New Zealand, required 
resourcing and scale. Doing this will enable Z to make informed decisions about what we 
choose to invest in and when.

At Z we believe that climate  
change is real and accelerated 
by human activity, and we want 
to move from being a part of the 
problem to being at the heart of 
a solution.      

Just because the pace is slow doesn’t 
mean that advances aren’t happening and 
alternate fuels aren’t gaining traction. The 
major technological advancements that 
continue as we speak indicate that we will 
have more choices for energy in the future 
than ever before. For example, major car 
manufacturers such as Toyota and Daimler 
have committed to commercialising 
hydrogen fuel cells by 2015 and 2017 
respectively, and there are cars in California 
already driving on fuel from algae. 

As a New Zealand company committed to 
playing a part in shaping New Zealand’s 
transport energy future, we need to start 
planning and investing now, even though 
we might not see widespread traction or 
commercial gain straight away. So a big 
question for us at Z in the year ahead will  
be “what does it take to change what powers 

Z ENERGY2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE BOLD 
 
 
 
 
40

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE BOLD

Biofuel:  
A future in 
progress

The biofuel industry in New Zealand seems to  
be stalled at the lights, but we still believe that  
it has potential. We are committed to becoming  
New Zealand’s leading biofuel provider by  
2014 and we are looking at a range of ways  
to achieve this.

41

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE BOLD

There are challenges when you try to  
bring biofuels to a broad customer base.  
They include scale and security of supply, 
quality, and ongoing sustainability. But  
there is appetite for biofuels in the market. 

We spoke to a number of leading  
New Zealand companies about their own 
sustainability targets and how they plan  
to meet them. What we found was a real 
desire to reduce emissions, with the use  
of biofuels highlighted as one of the key  
ways to achieve this. 

New Zealand Post, for example, has 
aggressive targets to reduce its total  
carbon footprint, and continues to search  
for step-change strategies that will deliver 
the biggest results. A future strategy that 
the company expects will deliver significant 
and on-going carbon reductions will be 
the greater use of biofuels throughout its 
transport and delivery network, with the  
aim of reducing carbon emissions from  
the use of fuel by 6%. New Zealand Post 
already has five vehicles that are capable  
of operating on pure biodiesel.

In another example, Fonterra are already 
incorporating biofuel-compatible ideas 
into their business planning even though 
there isn’t a sufficient quantity of biofuel in 
New Zealand yet. Taking a stand, Fonterra 
designed their recently commissioned site  
in Darfield to ensure that they have options  
in the future to supply biodiesel to their 
Darfield milk collection tanker fleet. 

What’s missing for these companies is  
the lack of a secure and competitively  
priced supply of biofuels at scale. 

We’re currently completing detailed design 
and pricing on a tallow to biodiesel plant and 
the associated supply chain infrastructure. 
This would result in the annual production  
of 20 million litres of B100 (pure biodiesel) 
from inedible animal fats that would 
otherwise be exported for the production 
of soaps and candles. This would enable us 
to sell B5 biodiesel (which is a 5% bio and 
95% mineral diesel blend) through most 
of our upper North Island service stations 
and to our commercial customers who, like 
us, are committed to reducing their carbon 
emissions. At a modest cost and short time 
frame the plant could be further expanded  
to 40 million litres per annum.

In the longer term, we are still looking at 
second generation biofuel technology that 
could be a good fit for New Zealand. Given 
the scale of New Zealand’s plantation forests 
and wood processing, a project utilising 
wood as feedstock could lead to a promising 
biofuels future for New Zealand, while at  
the same time revitalising New Zealand’s 
forestry sector. 

Pursuing second generation biofuels 
from indigenous raw materials could have 
significant advantages beyond transport 
energy and for New Zealand as whole. 
Emerging hydrothermal technology that 
enables woody biomass (the woody  
material from trees) to be turned into  
bio-crude (or “green crude”) could have 
exciting implications for New Zealand. 

The potential benefits from domestic 
production of green crude from woody 
biomass are material. These benefits include 
a renewable energy supply beyond the 
electricity sector and improved domestic  
fuel supply security by meeting 10% of 
transport fuel demands from domestic  
wood waste alone. It would also achieve 
reduced transport greenhouse gas emissions 
by 1 million tonnes of C02 equivalent as  

well as lowering the carbon footprint for  
New Zealand manufactured goods. Not to 
mention the step change to New Zealand’s 
forestry sector by adding value to 1.6 million 
tonnes of underutilised wood residues.

Given the compelling possibility for turning 
trees into fuel, we’re working with pulp and 
paper manufacturer Norske Skog to scope 
the potential for a pilot plant that would use 
second generation technology to process 
wood waste from the forestry sector into 
bio-crude. This project is supported by the 
Ministry for Primary Industries through their 
Primary Growth Partnership fund.

We’re not venturing into biofuels blindly 
or without due diligence. Offsetting the 
substantial benefits of biofuels are some  
real challenges. The upfront capital costs  
of building biofuels infrastructure is high,  
and the production costs can also be 
significantly higher than fossil fuels.  
The economics will be hard, but without 
starting to build capability in biofuels  
now, New Zealand would risk missing a 
significant opportunity. 

42

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE BOLD

CO2 emissions profile  

(in kilo tonnes) for Z operations and customers using Z products

Why are we so focused on trying to give our customers lower carbon options? This is where  
we can make the greatest impact in helping to reduce New Zealand’s carbon emissions. 

Imagine that Z’s carbon emissions are seats in the Air New Zealand Airbus jet that flies  
from Auckland to Wellington…

Z offices  
and retail sites
1 Seat or 13.5 kt

NZ supply chain 
1 Seat or 13.4 kt

Share of  
the refinery
25 Seats or 371 kt

Our customers  
using Z products 
417 Seats or 6,325 kt

43

Z ENERGY

Our progress  
on sustainability

Last year we announced our  
intention for Z to have a game-
changing, leading or active  
position in four key sustainability  
areas by 2015:

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE BOLD1 Using less and  wasting less in our  own business2 Reducing the carbon intensity of our customers3 Reducing reliance  on fossil fuels4 Supporting  New Zealand businesses and communities44

Z ENERGY

We achieved many of our 2013 
milestones in pursuit of our 2015 
goals but we’ve also struggled 
with the basics, gone backwards 
on one area completely within our 
control and realised the depth and 
breadth of commitment required 
to meet our aspirational targets.   

We are disappointed by our failure to reduce 
our own carbon emissions. Air travel was 
the biggest contributor to us missing our 
objective – with a 43% increase in kilometres 
flown, we completely missed our objective to 
reduce our carbon footprint by 10% in 2012. 
With air travel representing more than 40% 
of our carbon footprint, the challenge for this 
year is to bring that back down to 2011 levels 
and then reduce it further to meet the 25% 
reduction target for 2015. 

We’re determined to get back on track next 
year, even though turning around our travel 
habits won’t be easy. By providing staff 
and teams with individual travel data, we’re 

looking to help people make better choices. 
Some teams have already put in place lower 
travel allowances for the coming year to help 
reduce the number of flights taken. However, 
it’s not all about a “less” mind-set, we also 
intend to inspire the “more” side of the 
equation – greater use of technology, smarter 
travel choices and rewarding what is done 
well in the business rather than just pointing 
out failures. 

We’re pleased to be increasing our action  
on our environmental sustainability initiatives 
at our retail sites. We have begun installing 
water reclamation units in our carwashes  
that will enable us to reclaim, clean and 
reuse up to 60% of the water used. Already 
we have saved eight million litres of water 
through using these water reclamation units. 
These units are installed at all new carwashes, 
and will progressively be retrofitted to all 
carwashes in our network. 

We have also committed to installing exterior 
LED lighting across our service stations 
over the next two years. This $2.5 million 
investment will cut our lighting electricity 
consumption by 50-70%, which is a 16% 
reduction in carbon dioxide equivalent 
(CO2e). 

Over 84% of Z’s overall emissions are from 
customers using our fuel. So helping our 
customers use less fuel is the simplest way  
for us to help our customers reduce their 
carbon emissions. Taking a progamme  
into the commercial sector would make  
a noticeable difference to the whole country’s 
annual emissions. 

This is an area we’re proud to say we’ve 
gained some ground in. We launched 
Fuelwise in September 2012 and we’re 
currently working with seven of our 
commercial customers to review, monitor  
and manage their fuel usage to help them use 
less fuel. More information on Fuelwise can be 
found on page 33 of this Annual Review. 

As indicated in last year’s annual review, we 
are committed to reporting on our progress 
against our sustainability goals every year. 
The following table provides a “state of the 
nation” on where we are tracking with each 
of our sustainability pillars. As our milestones 
and reporting become more sophisticated, 
we will be sharing the metrics behind our 
successes and failures.

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE BOLD 
 
45

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE BOLD

Sustainability report

1  3  5

2  4  R

Scoping the 
projects

1  3  5

2  4  R

Baseline 
established

1  3  5

2  4  R

Measurement 
and progress

1  3  5

2  4  R

Results  
on track

1  3  5

2  4  R

Achieved the 
goal for the year

1  3  5

2  4  R

Not achieving 
targets

Share the journey

1.  Carbon reporting

The first step we committed to is getting our carbon footprint audited. 
This has happened, which means we now have a benchmark figure 
of 7,237,125kg of CO2e for all our NZ emissions sources including 
customers using Z products that we can report against in coming years.

2.  Sustainability reporting

We have missed our milestone of starting to use an external 
sustainability reporting tool or standard in 2012. This was deferred.

When we  
succeed we are

Active

Active

FY13
goal

1  3  5

2  4  R

1  3  5

2  4  R

When we  
succeed we are

FY13
goal

Fossil fuel reduction

1.  Leading biofuel  
supplier 2014 

2.  10% biodiesel in  
our business

We’re currently exploring a number of options with a commitment to 
make some decisions on the avenue we will take by the end of 2013. 
There are two main projects we are exploring. The first is a project 
that will enable Z to produce biodiesel from tallow. The second is a 
longer-term project to turn wood waste into biofuels.

Z’s bulk delivery fleet is compatible with a 5% biodiesel blend, and we 
had conversations with some of our contractors on whether trucks in 
certain areas can take a higher, 10% biodiesel blend. The only thing we 
are now waiting on is being able to secure the supply of sustainably 
produced biodiesel.

Game changer

Game changer

3.  Leading implementer  
of emergent transport

Z has initiated a comprehensive technology review on which transport 
options are viable in the short and medium term for NZ.

Game changer

1  3  5

2  4  R

1  3  5

2  4  R

1  3  5

2  4  R

 
46

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE BOLD

Carbon intensity

When we  
succeed we are

1.  25% reduction of  

head office footprint

We made a 10% reduction across all aspects of our head office 
operations except travel. As a result, we not only missed our target  
for last year, we slightly increased our carbon footprint.

2.  15% reduction on distance 
travelled to deliver fuel

3.  25% reduction on  
delivery emissions 

By increasing the average delivery size to retail sites and commercial 
customers, there’s been a 6% reduction in distance travelled.  
An additional 1.3% reduction was achieved by reducing unplanned 
deliveries through better forecasting and scheduling. 

Specific initiatives have been identified and are in various stages of 
execution. Fuel consumption monitoring is now available, but still only 
at whole-fleet level. Driver training for safe and fuel-efficient driving 
has not yet begun. We are still working on securing biodiesel supply 
for use in fuel delivery vehicles.

4.  10% CO2 reduction  

across convenience stores

Benchmarking our current footprint so that we have a baseline 
measure is currently in progress.

5.  25% CO2 reduction with  

10 suppliers

Three of our suppliers have already reduced the carbon footprint of 
our shared activities by 5%.

Leading

Leading

Leading

Leading

Leading

6.  Reduce retail customer 

fuel use

Initial scoping work as to how best to make an impact on reducing  
the fuel use of retail customers has kicked off. 

Game changer

7.  Reduce commercial 
customer fuel use

We’ve progressed a number of initiatives which we expect to gain 
traction over the next year. We now have an in-house Heavy Vehicle 
Performance Assessor that can advise customers on fleet efficiency.  
We launched our new fuel management system, Fuelwise, and we’re 
currently working with seven of our customers to help them use less fuel.

Game changer

FY13
goal

1  3  5

2  4  R

1  3  5

2  4  R

1  3  5

2  4  R

1  3  5

2  4  R

1  3  5

2  4  R

1  3  5

2  4  R

1  3  5

2  4  R

47

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | BE BOLD

Use less waste less 

1.  10% electricity reduction  

across retail network

We have just determined our electricity consumption baseline, 
(29,650,558kwh) which will enable us to track and report on progress.

2.  50% water reduction 
across retail network

Last year we benchmarked our current usage so that we have a 
baseline measure. We have begun rollout of water recycling units at Z 
car washes that will enable us to reuse up to 60% of water used.

3.  70% less retail operation  

waste to landfill

Total material generated by the Z retail network over a 12-month 
period (Nov 2011-Oct 2012) is estimated to be 5,765 tonnes of which 
57% (3,308 tonnes) was sent to landfill and 43% (2,456 tonnes) was 
cardboard sent for recycling. 

4.  Head office Zero Waste

We have reduced our head office waste to landfill from an average  
of 70kgs a week to 27kgs a week.

Support New Zealand

1.  Safety at home 
ambassadors 

While some work has been done to encourage safety at home 
ambassadors, the project has been deferred while we concentrate  
on improving workplace safety at our service stations.

2.  Safety performance  

best in class

3.  365 skilled worker days 

4.  Developing skills of our 
own team and others

5.  Neighbourhood 

investment connects  
us to communities

We have moved from multiple systems to a one-stop shop risk 
management system called Risk Manager. Risk Manager is now 
providing us with an access point for all Z business and business 
partners to understand risks across the business, allowing us to 
prioritise and manage risks based on what we know.

Scoping of how this could work in practice and how Z staff can  
make the biggest impact is currently happening. Internal staff 
engagement has kicked off.

We have invested heavily in developing our own people and the 
people with whom we work. Over the past 12 months we have 
invested half a million dollars in developing another 25 leaders  
in Z and a further half a million dollars to provide leadership 
development for our 23 retailers. We have also invested in  
putting together a NZQA programme for our retail site staff.

Over $1 million was donated to over 600 groups making a  
difference in local neighbourhoods. This is in addition to Z’s  
Retailers connecting with local organisations in their respective 
regions and working with local communities to back what matters 
most to each neighbourhood.

When we  
succeed we are

Leading

Active

Leading

Leading

When we  
succeed we are

Leading

Leading

Active

Leading

Leading

FY13
goal

1  3  5

2  4  R

1  3  5

2  4  R

1  3  5

2  4  R

1  3  5

2  4  R

FY13
goal

1  3  5

2  4  R

1  3  5

2  4  R

1  3  5

2  4  R

1  3  5

2  4  R

1  3  5

2  4  R

48

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | WE BACK PEOPLE

We back people In this section:

Doing Good in the Hood 
Recognising the value of our values
Adding the Z Factor
We signed on for women’s empowerment 
Making safety more human 
How safe were we? 
Guest column – Hans Buwalda, Fletcher Building 
Driving for safety

Retail Strategy and Operations Manager Michelle Simons backs Jonny to fly high. 

Be straight upCienis milibus as simintum qui te nos reste sapel evel exceptatem a sinume inveliquam nos doluptaque volorem 49

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | WE BACK PEOPLE

Doing good  
in the hood

“Good in the Hood” is how Z gives back to local 
neighbourhoods to support the things that really 
matter to them. It’s a unique approach and one that 
encourages people to have a say in what Z supports 
in their local neighbourhoods.  

50

$4,000 of the $5,000 per station has been 
given to four neighbourhood groups who 
applied online and were chosen by Z’s local 
Retailers and site staff. Selecting the four 
groups per site was the toughest part, as 
there were so many worthy applications. 
Z site teams eventually settled on 600 
groups across Z’s service station network, 
with groups varying from Coastguard to 
SuperGrans! 

To work out how much of the $4,000 we 
gave to each group, we asked customers to 
vote for their favourite groups throughout 
March. The top 10 groups voted for in an 
online token hunt got an additional top-up  
of $500 each.  

The remaining $1,000 per station will be 
used by the Retailers throughout the year 
to support other neighbourhood projects 
making a difference in the community. 

Good in the Hood is one of the key ways we 
can support the things that matter locally  
and make a positive contribution right across 
New Zealand. 

At Z, we don’t really “sponsor” anything. 
Instead, we put money into local 
neighbourhoods – and we do that because, 
when we asked New Zealanders what 
mattered to them, they told us we should back 
the people who back us. 

So in 2013, every Z station will once again be 
contributing $5,000 to neighbourhood groups 
and projects that help people who need 
it. With 210 Z stations in our network, that 
represents over $1 million across New Zealand.

Z ENERGY2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | WE BACK PEOPLE51

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | WE BACK PEOPLE

Recognising the 
value of our values

In November 2012, the Human 
Resource Institute of New Zealand 
(HRINZ) formally recognised Z’s 
work on the development and 
rollout of Z’s organisational values 
by awarding us the HR Initiative of 
the Year award. This award paid 
tribute to Z’s unique bottom-up 
approach to developing its values 
and the positive impacts that the 
embedding of our values have 
had on our business results.

It’s been over a year now since we developed 
and launched our values. Our values – Be 
straight up, Be bold, Have the passion, Share 
everything and Back people – have been an 
enabler within the organisation and continue 
to play an integral role in helping us build a 
world-class Kiwi company with a distinct  
New Zealand identity.

Our values underpin everything we do. We 
use the language of our values in everyday 
conversations and communications. They 
represent what we stand for, and guide not 
only how we act with each other but also how 
we connect with customers and stakeholders. 

The impact of our values has been showing 
up in staff engagement, anecdotal feedback 
from customers and customer service scores.  

In July, we ran a comprehensive engagement 
survey (conducted by Aon Hewitt) across 
all Z employees. The purpose of this was to 
get a sense of how engaged and emotionally 
connected our people felt to Z, including our 
brand, purpose, values and strategy. 

Measuring engagement allows us to 
understand how connected people are with 
Z and whether that level of connection is 
driving long-term business performance. We 
chose to work with Aon Hewitt because their 

methodology shows a strong correlation 
between their measure of engagement  
and business performance.  

We had a 98% response rate (the highest 
Aon Hewitt have ever seen) and an 
engagement score of 66%, putting Z in the 
high performance zone and top quartile for 
New Zealand employers. A staggering 88% 
of our people agreed or strongly agreed 
that “this organisation’s values are a good 
match with my personal values”. This is 
significant because research has shown that 
personal values trump organisational values, 
and organisational values that align deeply 
with the personal values of a team improve 
commitment, which in turn translates into 
better performance and retention.   

The survey showed us that we do strategy 
well at Z, in particular drawing a clear line 
of sight between our strategy and how 
each person can contribute. The survey also 
indicated that we are better at generating 
innovation than other companies. In terms 
of opportunities to improve, the two key 
areas of focus for us next year are providing 
our people with greater clarity on career 
opportunities and supporting them to achieve 
their aspirations, and making sure our people 
leaders consistently model what Z stands for. 

552

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | WE BACK PEOPLE

Adding the 
Z factor

We believe that the launch 
and embedding of our values 
right through to the frontline of 
customer service has been critical 
to our significantly improved 
customer experience.

To help our retail site staff think about their 
roles differently and get excited about working 
for a truly Kiwi company, we rolled out a 
comprehensive programme called “the Z 
Factor”, with Z’s values at its core. We wanted 
site teams to be able to take ownership of the 
values in their own way and to turn them into 
behaviours that fitted with their day-to-day 
roles. In particular, we wanted to encourage 
them to express themselves and their 
personalities without feeling constrained. 

The results have been more than what you’d 
expect from a standard training programme. 
The customer research we regularly undertake 
indicates that the Z Factor has delivered a 
whole new attitude to customer service. One 
of our measures of success is the percentage 
of people who are “raving fans” of Z: those 
who rate our brand higher than any other 
brand across all brand attributes.  

A brand for New ZealandAs part of our goal to become a truly world-class company, we’re determined to become an iconic brand and earn the trust, respect  and preference of our customers.  To achieve that, we must deliver  New Zealand motorists and businesses the best experience  and the best overall value of any  fuel supplier. Our regular consumer research shows that Z has the highest consideration, availability and preference ratings of any fuel brand in the country. The numbers of people choosing Z as their first preference also continue to increase. Most importantly, over the past year we continued to create increasing numbers of what we call “raving fans”, the customers who passionately support us and what we stand for. We are now two years ahead of schedule in hitting our brand targets, and are growing into our brand’s potential.We’ve struck a chord. New Zealanders tell us every day that they get our story and they relate to our brand personality – youthful, independent, passionate and always optimistic. The fact that Z is a New Zealand company helping fill up the Super Fund is important, but we know it’s not enough. There has to be more – and in our case, that means clear and distinct offers such as a friendly helpful experience, forecourt service, speed, Fly Buys rewards and great coffee. Combine what we offer with the difference we’re helping to make in neighbourhoods, and it can be seen that Z is a company that’s doing good things and that has a value proposition that sets it apart from the industry. We’re proud of that reputation and work hard to continue to earn and retain it. Over the next year, we’ll look to extend our reputation with our commercial customers. We’re currently crafting a distinct offer for them based on our understanding of what they value, but also tailored to their different needs. New Zealanders have told us what Z means to them. Now we’ve asked brand valuation experts Interbrand to quantify and value the contribution of our brand to our business. To us, our Z brand is an asset; an asset that we need to grow into the world-class icon we know it can be.2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | WE BACK PEOPLE653

Z ENERGY

As the Z Factor was rolled out to site staff, 
we saw a steady increase in the percentage 
of our raving fans and we’re thrilled to see 
that number continue to climb. Our score 
for service has also been on a steady incline, 
sitting on 50%, while our closest competitor 
scored at around 25%.  

That really matters when service is a  
key element of our value proposition.  

It’s not just our customers who are influenced 
by our values. We recently polled our suppliers 
on how well Z is role-modelling our Z values. 
89% felt they have a clear understanding of  
Z’s values based on what they’ve seen, 
and 84% rated Z staff as 7 or higher out of 
a possible 10 when asked whether Z acts 
consistently with its values. 

Basing everything we do on our values is 
not about telling others how to act. It is 
about letting our suppliers know what they 
can expect, and that in turn is making the 
relationships we have with others more 
transparent and our ways of working more 
closely aligned. It’s also about putting a 
stake in the ground and asking to be held 
accountable for the way we behave relative  
to what we say we stand for.

Raving fans

Service

32%

32% 32%

31% 31%

32%

30%

28%

25%

18%

17%

17%

22%

19%

I

S
N
A
F
G
N
V
A
R
F
O
%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

60%

40%

20%

0%

43%

44%

46%

46%

48%

48% 47%

49%

50%

37%

34%

35%

41%

38%

2
1
0
2
N
A
J

2
1
0
2
B
E
F

2
1
0
2
R
A
M

2
1
0
2
R
P
A

2
1
0
2
Y
A
M

2
1
0
2
N
U
J

2
1
0
2
L
U
J

2
1
0
2
G
U
A

2
1
0
2
P
E
S

2
1
0
2
T
C
O

2
1
0
2
V
O
N

2
1
0
2
C
E
D

3
1
0
2
N
A
J

3
1
0
2
B
E
F

2
1
0
2
N
A
J

2
1
0
2
B
E
F

2
1
0
2
R
A
M

2
1
0
2
R
P
A

2
1
0
2
Y
A
M

2
1
0
2
N
U
J

2
1
0
2
L
U
J

2
1
0
2
G
U
A

2
1
0
2
P
E
S

2
1
0
2
T
C
O

2
1
0
2
V
O
N

2
1
0
2
C
E
D

3
1
0
2
N
A
J

3
1
0
2
B
E
F

BP

CALTEX

MOBIL

Z ENERGY

BP

CALTEX

MOBIL

Z ENERGY

The raving fans score is the percentage of people who rate a particular brand higher 
than any other brand across an average of all attributes.  
Base: All respondents Feb-13 n=1, 158

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | WE BACK PEOPLE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
54

We signed on 
for women’s 
empowerment

This year, we showed our  
support for greater inclusion 
as one of 10 New Zealand 
signatories to the UN’s Women’s 
Empowerment Principles.

Diversity is about celebrating healthy 
differences not just in gender but also in 
ethnicity, experience and opinions. In the 
early days of our business, women were 
under-represented in our wider leadership. 
Since then, a ratio of 1:4 in the top three 
career levels has improved to 2:3. We are 
now actively monitoring our diversity metrics: 
particularly gender diversity.

One of the things we really like about the 
Women’s Empowerment Principles is that 
their application extends beyond Z and 
into our supply chain. Being a signatory 
is our opportunity to support the career 
development of women into greater roles in 
other organisations we do business with. It’s 
one more way we’re backing people, while 
at the same time reaping the benefits that 
diversity can bring to a business.   

49

47

45

42

40

2011 - 2012 
Career level 2 - 4

2011 - 2012 
Career level 5 – 6

2011 - 2012 
Career level 7 – 9

2011 - 2012 
Executive team

60

45

30

15

0

40

30

20

10

0

6

5

3

2

0

2011

2012

2011

2012

2011

2012

2011

2012

- Male

- Female

Z ENERGY2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | WE BACK PEOPLE55

Engagement scores by gender

There is no difference between the level of 
engagement of males and females. There 
are also no differences in engagement 
by employment type (part time, full time, 
contractor) or by manager location.

Male

Female

Z Energy overall

Norm for energy companies in Australia/New Zealand

55%

53%

Other organisations 2012

2012 Aon Hewitt best employers

66%

67%

66%

79%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Z ENERGY2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | WE BACK PEOPLE56

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | WE BACK PEOPLE

Making safety 
more human

Health and safety is a key priority 
in our business, which is why 
we continually push ourselves 
to do better. One of the things 
we have learned this year is that 
knowledge of rules and policies 
alone does not necessarily 
change the actions of people 
in a high-risk activity. Making a 
workplace safer requires taking 
account of the “human factors”, 
and this year we’ve invested 
in building our understanding 
of these factors as part of our 
commitment to Zero Harm.

Accident assessment has traditionally 
focused on the failed events themselves 
and their immediate precursors. In Human 
Factors thinking, however, the investigation 
begins further back in the accident sequence, 
and examines and fixes the problems at the 
highest levels. While it is really important 
to understand the technical aspects of 
an incident, from an accident prevention 
perspective we also need to understand  
the human factors aspects – in other words, 
it is less about mechanical cogs, wheels and 
levers and more about the cogs, wheels and 
levers of the human brain.

Renowned psychologist James Reason’s 
“Swiss Cheese” accident causation model 
demonstrates how most accidents can be 
traced to four levels of failure: organisational 
factors, supervision, preconditions and unsafe 
acts. In the Swiss Cheese model, the steps  
to prevent accidents are modelled as a series 
of barriers, like slices of Swiss Cheese. The 
holes in the cheese represent the weaknesses 
in each part of the system. They always vary 
in size and position in all four slices. The 
system as a whole fails when all of the holes  
in each of the slices align, allowing a failure  
to get through.

57

James Reason’s “Swiss Cheese” accident causation model

Your accident waiting to happen

Organisational factors

Unsafe supervision

Preconditions

Unsafe Acts

Realistically, people commit unsafe acts all 
day, every day, despite the fact that they 
know they’re not supposed to. The best way 
to change behaviour is to address factors 
above the level of the individual. So instead 
of focusing all our energy on preventing 
holes in the last slice of Swiss cheese, we’ve 
been seeking to understand the root causes 
of incidents and focusing our energy on 
what we can do at the organisational and 
supervision levels. 

Some of the ways we’re doing this are 
through using new Incident Causation 
Analysis Method (ICAM) to help us better 
investigate accidents, and introducing 
electronic risk management systems into our 
retail network to codify activities and map 
where risks are occurring. 

As a company that distributes and sells 
around 2.5 billion litres of fuel and that 
comes into contact with thousands of 
people every day, we have to be obsessed 
with safety. Improving our safety statistics 
starts with the operations that are closest 
to us, our head office and our retail and 
commercial networks, and progresses out 
to our supply chain. Together, our new 
accident investigation systems, our integrated 
approach and our in-house Human Factors 
expertise are giving us new understandings 
of how people work and enabling us to better 
look after our people, and help them better 
look after themselves. 

E.g. Shortage of 
skilled supervisors

E.g. Inexperienced 
workers

BANG!

E.g. Unprecedented 
growth of  
industry/company

E.g. “Does it go this 
way or that way?”

Z ENERGY2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | WE BACK PEOPLE58

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | WE BACK PEOPLE

How safe were we?

It wasn’t a great year for Z in terms of safety, despite a concerted effort to get things 
right, with improved reporting and a great deal of focus on personal process and 
environmental safety. While our safety performance overall was slightly better, the 
number of lost-time injuries increased (though their severity declined) and we spilt 
more litres of fuel. 

A key reason for our heightened awareness of where things have gone wrong is that 
we are encouraging people to report more, and they are doing so in real time. In order 
to do this, we have had to strike the right balance between creating a culture where 
people are encouraged to report, through being “error tolerant”, while ensuring that 
people understand the serious implications of their actions, intended or unintended. 

Health, Safety, Security and the Environment 
(HSSE) key performance indicators – financial 
year ending 31 March 2013

FY12

FY13

Exposure hours (millions)

Compliance with HSSE plan

3.67

99%

4.57

97%

HSSE actions close out rate

100%

100%

Life saving rules infringements*

31

32

Safety critical maintenance completed on time

100%

100%

Lost-time injuries

Lost-time injury frequency

Number of spills (loss of containment)

9

2.45

7

8

1.75

8

59

*Z Life Saving Rules

Z’s Life Saving Rules aim to prevent harm to people and cover 12 high-risk operations 
at work. They are mandatory and are applicable to all Z Energy operations.

Work with a valid 
Work Permit 
when required

Conduct gas test 
when required

Verify isolation before 
work begins & use 
specifi ed life protection 
equipment

Obtain authorisation 
before entering a 
confi ned space

Protect yourself 
against a fall when 
working at height

Obtain authorisation 
before overriding 
or disabling safety 
critical equipment

Don’t smoke outside 
designated smoking areas

No alcohol or drugs 
while working or driving

While driving don’t 
use your phone 
or exceed speed limits

Wear your 
seat belt

Follow prescribed 
Journey Management 
Plan

Don’t walk under a 
suspended load

Z ENERGY2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | WE BACK PEOPLE60

Hans Buwalda

Safety:  
Managing Injuries  
or Managing Risks?

Fletcher Building has received 
public acknowledgement for a 
significant reduction in its injury 
rates in recent years. In 2006, its 
total recordable injury frequency 
rate per million hours was over 
60. It is now less than eight.

The apparent conclusion that is drawn from 
this is that our safety performance must have 
improved by several orders of magnitude. 
Undoubtedly there have been significant 
improvements. Other measures such as safety 
culture surveys verify that there is a high level 
of engagement in safety management, at all 
levels within our company.

We are aware however, that injury rates  
don’t tell us the full story with regard to our 
safety performance. No one performance 
measure can.

Because of our focus on injury rates, we 
have comprehensive, consistent, verifiable 
data, across the whole company. We do not 
have similar quality data for other indicators 
of safety management. We collect records  
of all reported “near miss” incidents, 
(unplanned events).  

Some basic analysis of this data has been 
carried out, and this paints another picture 
of our safety management:

•  Now that we have achieved much lower 

injury rates, our injury incidents no longer 
reflect the range of safety incidents and 
risks on our sites. A sample of recordable 
injuries in April showed that most are 
sprains, strains and lacerations, arising  
from incidents using hand-tools and 
moving products.

•  Over a similar period, near miss incidents 
with the potential to cause serious injury 
were identified. These incidents result 
from a different set of risks and hazards 
(vehicles, on-site product movement and 
storage, process safety). There is only a 
small overlap between these.

Z ENERGY2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | WE BACK PEOPLE14
14
61

Z ENERGY

Therefore if we used only injury data to  
determine our safety priorities, we will not  
be placing adequate focus and priority 
on our significant operational risks. Total 
recordable injuries contain many high-
frequency, low-consequence incidents, 
(strains, sprains and lacerations). These are 
not a good indicator of exposure to low- 
frequency, high-consequence events.

On the next phase of our journey, we are 
increasing our focus on managing hazards 
that could result in serious injuries or 
fatalities. 

This will mean more focus on significant 
operational risks. For these, the causal 
factors are different. There are frequently 
different sets of circumstances  
surrounding severity: 

•  In unusual and non-routine work 

•  Where upsets occur 

•  In non-production activities 

•  Where sources of high energy are present 

•  During at-plant construction operations 

On the next stage of our journey, we will be:

•  Categorising the hazards which create  

the risk of serious or fatal injuries.

•  Identifying the precursors of events  

that can result in serious or fatal injuries

•  Developing multi-level controls  

for managing these hazards

•  Developing further lead performance 
indicators so that we can monitor our 
effectiveness in managing these  
significant hazards.

On the next phase of our   
journey, we are increasing our 
focus on managing hazards that 
could result in serious injuries or 
fatalities.  

The safety culture that we have within 
Fletcher Building, and our leadership 
commitment to safe workplaces, create the 
foundation for these further improvements.  
We will be building on what we have.  
However, we will increasingly differentiate 
our hazards.  We will reduce our focus 
on injury frequency rates as a measure of 
performance and effectiveness.

Hans Buwalda, 
Fletcher Building

Hans Buwalda, Fletcher Building

Z ENERGY2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | WE BACK PEOPLE 
 
  
62

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | WE BACK PEOPLE

Driving  
for safety

The people who transport Z’s fuel around the 
country do their utmost to keep themselves 
and others on the road as safe as possible. 
Yet every day, they face and respond to risks 
and challenges on the road that can have life-
threatening consequences. 

To better understand what the men and 
women who transport our fuel encounter 
every day, we asked Dave Philips from fuel 
haulage business Hooker Pacific for a view 
from the cab. 

63

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | WE BACK PEOPLE

Dave Philips  
from Hooker Pacific

Can you tell us about the lengths you go to 
to keep drivers and others safe on the roads?

“The big thing for us is ensuring we make 
sure our drivers are fatigue-free and also that 
they follow all the road rules. They need to 
be patient with people, and not try to beat/
overtake them or anything like that. 

They need to be out there being safe and 
seen to be safe.

What are some of the lengths you go to in 
order to protect the environment?

To protect the environment we take all 
precautions so that we don’t have any leaks. 
We make sure all our fittings, such as our 
hoses are up to standard, and all procedures 
are followed so we don’t have any leaks or 
spills to the environment at all. 

The other thing the drivers have got to be 
aware of with the environment is the cost 
of recovering any spills. If it gets into the 
waterways. It’s a big expense to clean up.

Why is health and safety so important for  
a fuel haulage operator?

Health and Safety in my role is making sure 
that the drivers are protected properly, we’ve 
all got families to go home to so we all like 
to go home the way we arrived; with eight 
fingers, two thumbs and ten toes.

What sort of checking is required to make 
sure the vehicles are safe and roadworthy?

The maintenance on the vehicles is 
paramount of course and we have a pre-
start check every morning, and every shift 
to  report all defects. If a truck is not up to 
standard it does not leave the yard until those 
things have been fixed. 

How can other drivers help to keep the  
roads safe?

The big thing for the public to remember is 
the weight of the vehicles, and the potential 
danger of what they are carrying - don’t be 
impatient with the trucks! 

64

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | SHARE EVERYTHING

Share everything In this section: 

Our customers are looking for value 
We continue to listen
How much money did we make?
Our performance at a glance

Helen, Andrew, Julie and Niki from Z enjoy each other’s company while working collaboratively.

Be straight upCienis milibus as simintum qui te nos reste sapel evel exceptatem a sinume inveliquam nos doluptaque volorem 65

Our customers are 
looking for value

The fuel industry is a high fixed 
cost, low margin business – we 
make surprisingly little from 
every litre of fuel we sell. By 
the time our fuel products have 
been refined or purchased and 
taxes and levies paid to the 
government, Z receives around 
17 cents per litre. After all of 
our operating costs, financing 
costs and taxes – staff salaries, 
transport, energy costs, interest 
and so on – have been met, we 
earn a net profit of 2–3 cents a 
litre. This year, with a higher  
New Zealand dollar but ongoing 
price competition, we averaged 
2.3 cents per litre.

Our customers have told us that it’s not just 
about the price. Sure, price is important,  
but our customers are increasingly looking  
for a fast fuel up and great service, all while  
still being competitive on price. 

The industry and New Zealand has nothing 
to gain from continuing the old way of 
cutting costs to the bone and competing 
away margin at any cost – that’s why our 
infrastructure is in such poor shape, the 
number of service stations in New Zealand 
has halved over the last 20 years and, until Z 
came along, good old-fashioned service was 
disappearing, as companies reduced staff.

Over the past year, Z’s total retail fuel 
volumes dropped by 7% due to heightened 
competition, roughly offsetting market share 
gains in Z’s first two years of operation. 
However, a more sustainable and realistic 
margin has compensated for the decline in 
volume, and overall we have met financial 
targets for our retail business. 

We will continue to pursue a different 
strategy based on providing the best  
overall value – both for our customers and  
for New Zealand. The investments we have 
made in food, coffee, toilets and forecourt 
service provide our customers with clear 
choices in terms of who they choose and 
what they get for what they pay. Our 
willingness to invest in our industry while 
others continue to cut costs allows us to 
deliver much-needed capital into critical 
pieces of energy infrastructure.

We’ve invested millions in our people  
to change the service experience that  
New Zealanders can expect. Our research 
results and real-time feedback from 

customers show that Z offers levels of  
service that rate alongside the best 
companies in New Zealand, and still we know 
we can do a great deal more. The feedback 
proves to us that a world-class level of service 
is absolutely attainable, and it provides us 
with the ability to put things right when we 
get it wrong.

The boost in sales in our new format stores 
clearly shows that New Zealanders are 
enjoying the investments we have made.  
We know that we will continue to gain more 
sales from our food and coffee as we listen 
and improve. This year, New Zealanders 
asked us to add donuts to the food on offer. 
We obliged. We also followed up the launch 
of our Z Espress coffee brand with a new 
coffee app that allows customers to collect 
the digital equivalent of coffee stamps on 
their iPhones and android phones.

Looking after our own people, looking after 
our customers and investing for the future 
are the ways forward for Z. We will apply the 
same approach to our commercial business 
over the next 12 months in order to lift 
service standards and provide New Zealand 
businesses with the fuel they need quickly 
and simply. 

We are confident in our strategy but we 
also recognise that in a competitive market, 
the last thing anyone can afford to do is set 
and forget. We will continue to listen to our 
customers, and we will continue to check  
and refine our strategy. 

the price of

1 litre

16-19c

our portion

operation & 
storage costs

2-3c

our net profits

Z ENERGY2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | SHARE EVERYTHING66

Z ENERGY

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | SHARE EVERYTHING

Z customers purchased:

1,634 bathtubs or 326K litres 
of Z Espress coffee

42 Sky Towers  
of stacked Z cupcakes

Enough pies to go 541 laps  
of an Olympic stadium

Invercargill to Auckland traffic 
jam of cars from Z2O washes

Z by the numbers

60,015,879
Transactions per year

That’s almost two per second!

18,794,560
Fly Buys cards scanned per year

That’s over 50,000 every day!

12,872,473
People had their thirst quenched 
with a cold drink last year.

That’s over 24 every minute!

678,023,136
Litres of Z 91 per year

That’s over 20 litres pumped every second!  

2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | SHARE EVERYTHING

67

Z ENERGY

ZX

We’re proud of our fuels. We add a cutting- 
edge additive with cleaning and friction 
modification properties that help deliver 
improved performance, a cleaner engine 
and great value for motorists. Research 
conducted last year showed that comparison 
of three fuels (ZX and other 95 and 98 fuels) 
indicated that on average ZX resulted in  
the lowest fuel consumption on the lab  
Dyno testing.

It’s not just our premium fuel that cares  
for your engine. Our 91 octane fuel includes 
a lower dose of the same additive used in 
ZX which helps keep your engine clean. So 
whether or not you fill up with our premium 
fuel, ZX, when you fill up at Z you know that 
you’re getting some of the highest quality 
fuel available in the industry.    

68

We continue to listen

Z was the first fuel company 
in New Zealand to commit to a 
significant social media presence. 
Our conversations on Facebook 
and Twitter are valuable to us 
because they let us engage with 
our customers and potential 
customers in real time and hear 
what’s on their minds. More than 
108,000 ‘Likes’ on Facebook  
and over 1,000 Twitter followers 
keep us really connected with  
New Zealand and help us do  
the things that really matter. 

Over the last year, we hosted two “Ask Mike” 
social media sessions, which gave people 
interested in Z the chance to ask our CEO, 
Mike Bennetts, anything they liked. The 
opportunity to help people understand what 
Z is all about, to get real-time feedback and 
to hear the compliments and the criticisms 
directly was priceless. 

Social media is a double-edged sword.  
You have to be accessible, honest, up  
front and ready to hear the good with the 
bad. Our social media presence is unique 
among the major players in this industry.

The insights we’ve gained through engaging 
with and listening to our customers have 
proven so valuable that we continually use 
them to get better at what we do, and at 
providing what our customers want. 

Z ENERGY2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | SHARE EVERYTHING69

Z ENERGY

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How much money 
did we make?

In our first year as Z, we focused 
on building the Z brand and 
implementing our strategy.  
This year, we countered 
competitive market conditions 
with a speed and service-driven 
model that prioritised value.  
We largely anticipated the 
challenges thrown down by the 
market this year and delivered 
performance consistent with what 
we told our shareholders and our 
investors we would deliver.

Z’s statutory reported net surplus for the 
year ended 31 March was $35 million, down 
55% from $77 million last year. Our statutory 
reported numbers are calculated on the 
historic cost basis required by international 
financial reporting standards (IFRS). For 
this result, the cost of fuel sold is quantified 
on a first-in, first-out basis, meaning historic 
cost earnings include changes in the value of 
inventory. These can vary depending on how 
much the price of oil fluctuates. This year 
Dubai crude, which is the benchmark for the 
majority of crude we import, started the year 
at NZ$147 per barrel and finished at NZ$128.

Because Z is constantly selling fuel and 
buying product, we focus on replacement 
cost earnings (calculated by revaluing the 
cost of fuel to its current value), which 
is the worldwide industry norm. The 
difference between historic cost earnings 
and replacement cost earnings reflects the 
differing valuations of our inventory. Over 
time, these should be similar, but there will 
be differences in any one accounting period 
and, generally, historic cost earnings will be 
more volatile.  

70

Our replacement cost earnings before 
interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation 
and fair value movement of interest rate 
derivatives (operating EBITDAF) grew 
well despite vigorous competition and 
a stubbornly slow domestic economy, 
increasing from $172 million last year to  
$195 million, up 13%. This is at the upper  
end of guidance, and shows consistent  
year-on-year growth in earnings from  
$130 million in 2010. 

We enjoyed reliable and consistent cashflow 
despite continued volatility in global and 
domestic fuel markets. This was reflected 
in operating cashflow that increased by 
$324 million to $355 million. We reinvested 
some of those increased earnings into our 
infrastructure improvement programme and 
our retail and truck stop network. 

We believe that our retail strategy of 
improving the overall experience at our 
service stations coupled with strengthening 
our brand is the right approach. Although 
this year our fuel volumes were down 7% 
compared to the same period last year,  
our margin on fuel sold has improved. Shop 
sales in reformatted Z stores delivered a  
9% growth in sales year on year. 

The volume of fuel sold through our 
commercial business has declined, reflecting 
some deliberate choices we made about 
what level of returns we were willing to 
accept on certain lines of business. We have  
a plan to recover some of this volume at a 
better rate of return in the coming year. 

We enjoyed reliable and              
consistent cashflow despite 
continued volatility in global  
and domestic fuel markets.          

Once again, we improved return on average 
capital employed (ROACE), a critical 
financial measure for capital-intensive 
businesses like ours, while also increasing 
our asset base. ROACE was up 0.5% to 10.3% 
this year. We are trending nicely to the levels  
of return required to enable the ongoing 
investment in infrastructure that has been 
deferred in this industry for decades. We’re 
confident that the investments we have 
made and continue to make will future 
-proof the business. 

We undertook a number of initiatives to 
strengthen and diversify the company’s 
balance sheet over the course of the year. 
We announced a third bond issue of seven 
years and four months, successfully raising 
$135 million (the amount we sought was 
$100 million) at 6.5%. We’ve used the money 
to pay off our bank debt and extend the 
company’s debt maturity profile. We now 
have our long-term funding with Kiwis for 
the most part, with short-term funding 
available from a group of major banks. 
We have a $50 million debt facility and a 
$350 million working capital facility to fund 
volatility in oil prices and exchange rates.

Towards year end, we settled contracts  
to sell and lease back 47 secondary  
retail service station properties across  
New Zealand, on top of the eight properties 
already sold and leased back last year. 
That decision realised $82 million cash for 
investment or distribution. We continue to 
create headroom in the covenants we have 
agreed with our banks and bondholders.  
This means their money is safe and we  
will be able to raise more funds in the future. 

We are not expecting the year ahead to be 
very different in terms of overall trading 
conditions. We are expecting to see our 
combination of a differentiated, value-driven 
retail service model and a more customer-
focused and valued commercial service 
model paying off, with greater loyalty,  
higher retained margins and increasing 
EBITDAF. Our shareholders Infratil and the  
New Zealand Superannuation Fund share  
our belief in the potential of the long game.

Disclosure

The information in this annual review relates to 
Aotea Energy Holdings Limited (AEHL), which is  
the company owned by Infratil and the New Zealand 
Superannuation Fund. Our bonds are guaranteed 
by Aotea Energy Limited (AEL), which is a separate 
entity 100% owned by AEHL, through a subsidiary, 
and which has a different set of financial results. 

Z ENERGY2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | SHARE EVERYTHING71

Our performance at a glance

Key measures

Guidance for FY13 

Full year actual 

Average crude price (NZD/bbl)

Gross refinery margin (USD/bbl)

RNZ processing volume (ml)

Sales volume (ml)

Operating costs

Operating EBITDAF (replacement cost)*

Capex

$137

$7.00

1,880

2,600

$260-270m

$185–200m

$70–90m

$132

$7.40

1,966

2,524

$280

$195m

$71m

* EBITDAF and replacement cost are non-Generally Accepted Accounting Policy (GAAP) measures and are not comparable to International Financial Reporting 
Standards (IFRS) measure of performance. These measures are reconciled on page 82.  

Z ENERGY2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | SHARE EVERYTHING72

Z ENERGY

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Five key factors 
influence our earnings

Bondholders
as at 31 March 2013

Fluctuations in the gross fuel margin 
impact cash earnings. Margins have 
increased this year to a current 
cost net profit after tax (NPAT 
CCS) for every litre of fuel bought 
by consumers of around 2.3 cents 
NPAT CCS per litre, up from 2.1 
cents in the previous financial year. 

New Zealand

Other

No. of bondholders

No. of bonds (at $1 each)

8071

48

8119

428,786,000

3,214,000

432,000,000

5

Operating costs also affect 
earnings, and this year we have 
continued to invest in our brand  
and our service offer. 

Changes in oil prices impact our 
reported earnings, mainly through 
changes in consumer demand.  

4

1

2

3

Changes in the US dollar exchange 
rate impact what we pay. These 
fluctuations are largely hedged, 
but there is still some volatility in 
earnings, mainly due to timings for 
revaluing receivables and payables. 

The gross refining margin (GRM) 
represents the difference in value 
between the products produced 
by a refinery and the crude oil used 
to produce them, and is affected 
by international crude and product 
prices and foreign exchange rates. 
Refining margins are influenced by 
global supply of, and demand for, 
refining capacity. 

  
73

Key Performance Indicators (KPI) at a glance 

Key Performance Indicators 

Business performance is a key measure of 
our success as a company, but so is our 
performance in regard to people and the 
neighbourhoods we operate in, and how  
we treat our environment and resources. 

The following table is our economic, social 
and environmental performance at a glance. 
We are partway through undertaking 
robust benchmarking across the social and 
environmental factors in particular, and 
we look forward to sharing more detailed 
reporting with you in future.

Business Performance

Volume (mL)

Revenue (NZ$M)

Dividends paid

Historic Cost EBITDAF (Operating) (NZ$M)

Replacement Cost (RC) Operating EBITDAF (NZ$M)

Depreciation and Amortisation expense (NZ$M)

NPAT – Historic Cost (NZ$M)

NPAT – Replacement Cost (NZ$M)

Cents per Litre  
(Replacement Cost NPAT)*

Gross Refining Margin (USD/bbl)

EBITDAF, ROACE and RC are all non-Generally 
Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) measures 
and are not comparable to the International  
Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) measure  
of performance. These measures are reconciled  
on page 82 of the Annual Review.

ROACE

Stock on hand (NZ$M)

* 2011 CPL calculation has been adjusted to exclude 
the gain on acquisiton of $121.4m

Capital Expenditure (NZ$M)

FY13 % Increase 

/ (decrease)  

FY13

FY12

FY11

-5%

-6%

29%

-19%

13%

13%

-55%

3%

10%

5%

2,524

2,647

2,654

2,989

3,179

2,795

40

163

195

41

35

58

2.3

7.40

10.3%

482

71

31

202

172

37

77

56

2.1

6.70

9.8%

671

74

9

219

157

27

203

153

1.2

7.53

7.8%

549

29

Z ENERGY2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | SHARE EVERYTHING74

People and neighbourhoods

FY13 % Increase / 

(decrease)  

Total employees

Learning and development  
($ spend)

Lost time injuries (total days)

1.2%

-20%

-11%

FY13

241

FY12

238

FY11

221

1,600,000

2,000,000

750,000

8

9

4

Community donations ($)

223%

1,387,594

429,088

683,308

Environment and resources

FY13 % Increase / 

(decrease)  

FY13

FY12

FY11

Number of spills to ground

Head office waste (kg)

14%

-61%

8

27

7

70

10

-

Z ENERGY2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | SHARE EVERYTHING75

Financial Performance

Market Share – all products

The first year of operation as a local company  
was focused on ensuring a smooth transition.  
The second year was focused on building  
a new brand and implementing Z’s strategy. 

This past year, our third year of operation, was about 
completing the rollout of the Z brand and delivering 
on our brand promise, bedding down our strategy 
and maintaining the continual evolution inside Z 
towards being a world-class Kiwi company.

35%

33%

30%

28%

25%

0
1
N
A
J

0
1
R
A
M

0
1
L
U
J

0
1
P
E
S

0
1
V
O
N

1
1
N
A
J

1
1
R
A
M

1
1
Y
A
M

1
1
L
U
J

1
1
P
E
S

1
1
V
O
N

2
1
N
A
J

2
1
R
A
M

2
1
Y
A
M

2
1
L
U
J

2
1
P
E
S

2
1
V
O
N

3
1
N
A
J

Industry Volumes (million litres)

In the year ended 31 March 2013, our retail fuel volumes were down 
7% compared to the same period the year before, though our margin 
on fuel sold has improved. In our commercial business, the volume of 
fuel sold has declined, reflecting some deliberate choices we made 
about what level of returns we were willing to accept on certain lines 
of business.

In terms of a New Zealand wide view, the petrol market in  
New Zealand is in decline though the diesel market is growing at a 
rate slightly less than GDP. Z’s market share declined in FY13 albeit 
our actions were consistent with our goal to grow profits and returns.

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

Q

1

9
0
0
2

Q
3

9
0
0
2

Q

1

0
1
0
2

Q
3

0
1
0
2

Q

1

1
1
0
2

Q
3

1
1
0
2

Q

1

2
1
0
2

Q
3

2
1
0
2

Q

1

3
1
0
2

PREMIUM

JET

REGULAR

DIESEL

Z ENERGY2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | SHARE EVERYTHING 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
76

The following charts show performance under Shell (NZ) for their last 5 full years, ending 31 December 2005 to 31 December 2009.  
The first full year of Z is the financial year to 31 March 2011.

Replacement Cost EBITDAF

Return on Average Capital Employed

$m

250

200

150

100

50

–

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2011

2012

2013

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2011

2012

2013

Replacement cost earnings (EBITDAF) has improved despite volatile 
oil prices and the Christchurch earthquake. Replacement cost 
EBITDAF is an industry accepted measure of operating profitability. 
EBITDAF is calculated by taking net income and adding interest, 
taxes, depreciation, amortisation, and fair value movements of 
interest rate derivate expenses back to it.

‘Replacement cost’ is calculated on the basis that as fuel is sold a 
roughly similar amount will be purchased. This differs from ‘historic 
cost’, which uses the cost of fuel sold on a first-in, first-out basis. 

While reporting earnings to conform to accounting standards 
require cost of sales to reflect the historic cost of the fuel sold, as 
Z constantly sells fuel and buys product to replenish its inventory, 
replacement cost earnings are a more relevant measure of the 
company’s performance.

Over time, the two measurements should be approximately the  
same, but there will be differences in any one accounting period  
and generally Historic Cost earnings will be more volatile.

ROACE is the rate of return on capital employed in the business (the 
long term funds supplied or invested by the creditors and owners of 
the company). Capital employed can be defined as the total of non-
current liabilities and owner’s equity. An investor can compare this 
return to alternate investments with similar risk profiles.

Bank Covenants

Z continues to trade comfortably within all bank covenants, designed 
to satisfy our bankers that we are generating sufficient cash to cover 
our interest (fixed) costs, that we have sufficient liquidity to fund 
our working capital requirements, and that our debt levels are within 
acceptably managed levels.

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Z Energy Group’s Financial Performance

The financial information in this section relates to 
the Z Energy Limited Group, being Aotea Energy 
Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries. All tables are 
extracted from the audited financial statements 
of Aotea Energy Holdings Limited and should be 
read in conjunction with the complete New Zealand 
international financial reporting statements. 

Our statutory reporting conforms to accounting standards that 
require cost of sales to reflect the historic cost of the fuel sold. 
However in reality Z constantly sells fuel and buys product to 
replenish its inventory. Consequently replacement cost earnings 
(which excludes the impact of oil prices on inventory) are a better 
measure of a company’s underlying performance and management  
and capital providers focus on this. Over time, the two measurements  
should be approximately the same, but there will be differences in  
any one accounting period and generally historic cost earnings will  
be more volatile. 

78

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Statement of comprehensive income 
for the year ended 31 March 2013

Total revenue

Cost of sales of goods

Gross Profit

Share of earnings of Associate Companies (net of tax)

Sales and administration expenses

Distribution expenses

Other operating expenses

Total operating expenditure

Operating surplus before financing, derivatives, impairment and sale 
of fixed assets

Net (loss)/gain on commodity, foreign exchange and interest  
rate derivatives

Results from operating activities

Interest income

Interest expense

Net financing expense

Impairment of investment in associate

Gain on sale of fixed assets

Net surplus/(loss) before taxation

Taxation expense

Net surplus/(loss) for the year 

Net surplus/(loss) attributable to owners of the company

Other comprehensive income, after tax

Actuarial Gains/Losses on defined benefit plan

Income tax on other comprehensive income relating to RBO

Share of other comprehensive income from associates  
(net of income tax)

Other comprehensive income for the year, net of income tax

Total comprehensive income for the year 

Total comprehensive income attributable to owners  
of the company

Group

2013

 $Millions 

2012

 $Millions 

2,989.3 

(2,549.8)

439.5 

5.9

(230.8)

(46.6)

(44.4)

(321.8)

 123.6

9.1

 132.7 

 1.6 

(69.6)

(68.0)

 (11.7) 

10.9

 63.9

(28.9)

35.0 

 35.0 

 - 

 - 

(0.1)

(0.1)

 34.9 

34.9

For the year ended 31 March 2013, net profit  
after tax was $35 million, down by $42 million  
on the 2012 result.

Management and capital providers focus on 
replacement cost earnings before interest, 
tax, depreciation, amortisation, and fair 
value movements of interest rate derivative. 
Replacement cost earnings reflect the underlying 
profitability of the business and take out 
fluctuations associated with oil price changes.  
On a replacement cost basis the Aotea Energy 
Group achieved EBITDAF of $195 million, up  
13% on the previous year. 

Sales revenue (excluding tax and levies on fuel) 
of $2,989 million was down 6% on the prior 
period, mainly reflecting the increased cost of 
refined product. This also impacted cost of sales 
of $2,550 million, which was also down 6% on  
the previous year. 

Operating costs of $322 million were up on 
prior year due to increased retailer commissions 
and Christchurch earthquake repairs and 
maintenance costs expensed from the  
balance sheet. 

The company’s focus on customers and 
executing its strategy has delivered a solid 
replacement cost operating EBITDAF 
improvement in a highly competitive market and 
positioned the company well for future growth.

 3179.3 

(2,715.1)

 464.2 

 4.3 

(203.3)

(50.5)

(39.0)

(292.8)

 175.7

(0.6)

 175.1 

7.2 

(75.9)

(68.7)

 - 

1.8

 108.2 

(31.2)

 77.0 

77.0 

(2.5)

 0.7 

 (4.9)

(6.7)

 70.3 

 70.3 

 
79

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Statement of financial position

as at 31 March 2013

Cash and cash equivalents

Trade, accounts receivable and prepayments

Derivative financial instruments

Inventories

Held for sale assets

Income tax receivable

Current assets

Property, plant and equipment

Derivative financial instruments

Intangible assets

Investments in Associates

Other non current assets

Investment in subsidiaries

Other investments

Non current assets

Total assets

Accounts payable, accruals and other liabilities

Provisions

Derivative financial instruments

Bank debt

Loan from Shareholders

Redeemable Preference Shares

Income tax payable

Total current liabilities

Bank debt

Other liabilities

Provisions

Derivative financial instruments

Deferred tax

Loan from Shareholders

Redeemable Preference Shares - Issued to Shareholders

Bonds

Non current liabilities

Attributable to owners of the Company

Total equity

Total equity and liabilities

Group

2013

 $Millions 

2012

 $Millions 

 274.5 

 242.2

 - 

 481.5

2.0

2.0

 1,002.2 

 443.1

4.1

 34.3 

 184.8

 0.2 

 - 

 1.0 

 667.5 

 1,669.7 

 507.5 

 3.7 

 5.6 

 - 

244.5

115.0

 -

 876.3 

 - 

 17.5 

 24.1

 - 

 38.1 

 - 

 -

 425.8 

 505.5 

 287.9 

 287.9 

 1,669.7 

 16.5 

 246.4 

 0.3 

 671.0 

 - 

 - 

934.2 

 469.8 

 - 

25.3

 194.1 

 0.2 

 - 

 2.3 

 691.7 

 1,625.9 

 469.6 

 4.9 

 10.4 

 32.5 

-

-

 14.0 

 531.4 

 107.0 

 - 

 20.8 

 0.5 

 21.6 

 244.5 

 115.0 

 292.2 

 801.6 

 293.0 

 293.0 

 1,625.9 

 
80

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Major movements in the Balance Sheet are disclosed below:

•  Trade, accounts receivable and prepayments are largely made up of amounts 
due from customers that have been extended credit for sales made to them in 
the last 30 days. 

• 

Inventories of $482 million, recorded at the lower of historic cost and net 
realisable value, comprise $102 million of crude oil and $380 million of refined 
products, which cover between two and three months’ sales. At 31 March 2013, 
the Aotea Energy Group had 470 million litres of inventory on hand, which was 
down on 605 million litres at 31 March 2012. Inventory levels were increased 
at 31 March 2012 to accommodate an impending maintenance shut down at 
Refining New Zealand (NZRC). 

•  Property, plant and equipment of $443 million of property, plant and 

equipment includes: 

 – freehold and leasehold land and buildings used as retail service stations  

and truck stops;

 – plant and equipment for use in retail service stations and truck stops; 
 – storage and distribution infrastructure assets, which include port storage 

facilities, airport storage and refuelling equipment and pipelines. 

The decrease in value of land, buildings, plant and equipment for the year ended  
31 March 2013 is reflective of the sale and leaseback of 47 retail sites in 2013. 

• 

• 

Intangible assets include but are not limited to carbon obligations, the right  
to participate in the Fly Buys loyalty programme, franchise rights, domain 
names and software.

Investments in associates mainly represents Aotea Energy Group’s 17.14% 
holding (or 48 million shares) in the NZRC. The original carrying value was 
$3.99 and the value recorded was $192 million. As at 31 March 2013 the listed 
share price of NZRC was $2.51. Aotea Energy formed the view that there was 
an indicator of impairment and as such has compared the carrying value to its 
Value in Use (VIU) of $180 million. As the VIU was lower than the carrying value 
an impairment of $12 million was necessary. Z also has investments in Loyalty 
New Zealand Limited, New Zealand Oil Services Limited, Wiri Oil Services 
Limited, Penagree Limited, and Coastal Oil Logistics Limited.

•  Accounts payable, accruals and other liabilities consist of hydrocarbon 

payables, government duties and tax payables and ETS payables.

•  Bank core debt represents a $50 million revolving core debt facility  
to fund capital expenditure and general working capital, if required.  
This facility is not normally utilised and at year end was not drawn.  

•  Bank working capital debt represents a $350 million working capital facility  
to fund the day-to-day operations of the company. This fluctuates depending 
on transaction timing, predominantly around the timing of lumpy crude and 
refined product imports and at year end was not drawn.

•  Provisions include environmental and decommissioning and restoration 

provisions. Decommissioning and restoration costs expected to be settled 
within one year are classified as current liabilities and those expected to be 
settled between one and 30 years are classified as non-current.

•  Bonds represent the value of the Group’s three existing series of bonds 

(maturing in 2016, 2018 and 2019). The increase in the value of the bonds  
is as a result of Z Energy Limited (ZEL) issuing a third series of bonds on  
16 August 2012 with a face value of $135 million.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Net cash provided from operating activities 
increased by $324 million as a result of  
lower year-end inventory levels and an 
increase in accounts payable. The decrease 
in inventory reflected a decrease in volumes 
from 3.8 million barrels at 31 March 2012  
to 3.0 million barrels at 31 March 2013.

Net cash provided from investing activities 
reflects cash applied to the purchase of fixed 
and intangible assets and cash received from 
asset divestments. FY13 net cash provided 
from investing activities includes $87 million 
of proceeds from the sale and leaseback of 
retail sites.

Cash flows from financing activities included 
the issue of a third series of bonds which 
occurred during the financial year and had  
a face value of $135 million.

Statement of cash flows

for the year ended 31 March 2013

Cash flows from operating activities 
Cash was provided from:
Receipts from customers

Dividends received

Interest received

Cash was disbursed to:
Payments to suppliers and employees

Interest paid

Taxation paid

Net cash inflow/(outflow) from operating activities

Cash flows from investing activities
Cash was provided from:
Proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment

Proceeds from insurance recoveries

Proceeds from sale investments 

Cash was disbursed to:
Purchase of intangible assets

Purchase of investments

Purchase of property, plant and equipment

Net cash outflow from investing activities

Cash flows from financing activities
Cash was provided from:
Dividends

Issue of bonds

Cash was disbursed to:
Repay bank debt

Dividends paid to owners of the Company

Net cash inflow/(outflow) from financing activities

Net increase in cash

Cash balances at beginning of year 

Cash at end of year

Group

2013

 $Millions 

2012

 $Millions 

2,995.4

 3.4 

1.4

3,000.2

(2,541.3)

(76.3)

(27.8)

(2,645.4)

354.8

86.7

2.9

1.4

91.0

(69.4)

(2.3) 

(67.5)

(139.2)

(48.2)

 - 

 135.0

 135.0 

(143.5)

(40.0)

(183.5)

 (48.5) 

258.1

 16.5 

274.5

 3,165.1 

 6.6 

 5.9 

 3,177.5 

(3,039.3)

(62.7)

(44.5)

(3,146.5)

 31.1 

 12.7 

 - 

-

 12.7 

(18.6)

 - 

(64.1)

(82.7)

(70.0)

 - 

150.0 

 150.0 

(71.9)

(31.0)

(102.9)

 47.1 

 8.1 

 8.4 

 16.5 

 
 
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Reconciliation from operating EBITDAF (RC) to operating surplus 
(per the statutory accounts)

Operating EBITDAF (RC)

Less depreciation and amortisation

Less impairments on PP&E

Less unrealised gains/losses 

Less cost of sales adjustment 

Add share of earnings of Associate Companies

Operating surplus before financing, derivatives, impairments and sale of fixed assets (statutory accounts)

Reconciliation from operating EBITDAF (HC) to operating surplus 
(per the statutory accounts)

Operating EBITDAF (HC)

Less depreciation and amortisation

Less impairments on PP&E

Less unrealised gains/losses 

Add share of earnings of Associate Companies

Operating surplus before financing, derivatives, impairments and sale of fixed assets (statutory accounts)

Return on average capital employed (ROACE)

Return on average capital employed (ROACE) is a measure of how effective we are in using our assets.

195.3

(41.3)

(0.5)

(4.4)

(31.5)

5.9

123.6

163.8

(41.3)

(0.5)

(4.4)

5.9

123.6

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From the team at Z, 
Thank you for reading 
our 2013 Annual Review

A brand for New ZealandAs part of our goal to become a truly world-class company, we’re determined to become an iconic brand and earn the trust, respect  and preference of our customers.  To achieve that, we must deliver  New Zealand motorists and businesses the best experience  and the best overall value of any  fuel supplier. Our regular consumer research shows that Z has the highest consideration, availability and preference ratings of any fuel brand in the country. The numbers of people choosing Z as their first preference also continue to increase. Most importantly, over the past year we continued to create increasing numbers of what we call “raving fans”, the customers who passionately support us and what we stand for. We are now two years ahead of schedule in hitting our brand targets, and are growing into our brand’s potential.We’ve struck a chord. New Zealanders tell us every day that they get our story and they relate to our brand personality – youthful, independent, passionate and always optimistic. The fact that Z is a New Zealand company helping fill up the Super Fund is important, but we know it’s not enough. There has to be more – and in our case, that means clear and distinct offers such as a friendly helpful experience, forecourt service, speed, Fly Buys rewards and great coffee. Combine what we offer with the difference we’re helping to make in neighbourhoods, and it can be seen that Z is a company that’s doing good things and that has a value proposition that sets it apart from the industry. We’re proud of that reputation and work hard to continue to earn and retain it. Over the next year, we’ll look to extend our reputation with our commercial customers. We’re currently crafting a distinct offer for them based on our understanding of what they value, but also tailored to their different needs. New Zealanders have told us what Z means to them. Now we’ve asked brand valuation experts Interbrand to quantify and value the contribution of our brand to our business. To us, our Z brand is an asset; an asset that we need to grow into the world-class icon we know it can be.Z ENERGY2013 ANNUAL REVIEW | SHARE EVERYTHING