J&S Energy to bring 60 petrol stations under DUO name

By the end of 2004 J&S Energy, which specializes in trading with the chemical and petrochemical industries, intends to set up 60 petrol stations under the DUO brand name. However, the company faces strong competition from other fuel firms including PKN Orlen, BP, Shell, and Statoil. In May, J&S Energy acquired Szczecin-based DUO, as well as its six petrol stations and two fuel depots in Stobno and Brzeg. J&S Energy will also import around 350,000 tones of fuel from Germany this year. "We want a minimum of 30% of our imports to be sold by DUO, which will generate additional profits from the retail margin," said J&S Energy president Grzegorz Zambrzycki. He refused to reveal the value of the investment, but assured journalists that the company has its own capital and can boast a good credit rating. "The cost of each petrol station is about $1 million, but only half of them will be directly owned by us. The remaining stations will be franchised," Zambrzycki said. Not all of the stations will be built from scratch. "We have a lot of offers from private owners who are interested in the sale of their stations due to difficulties in the sector this year," he adds. Zambrzycki does not exclude the possibility of acquiring small networks which consist of several, or even around a dozen petrol stations. A year ago J&S Energy failed to purchase stations from Dexpol as Shell beat them with a better bid. (Puls Biznesu, p. 7) A.Z.