Company Announcements

20 June 2019

Vivo Energy plc

LSE:VVO / JSE:VVO

Formation of Joint Venture to Accelerate Growth of KFC Franchise Portfolio in East Africa

·    Vivo Energy has agreed to form a joint venture with Kuku Foods East Africa Holdings, the owner of KFC franchises in East Africa

·    The joint venture will accelerate growth of Kuku Foods' current KFC franchise portfolio of 30 restaurants in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda

Vivo Energy plc (Vivo Energy), the pan-African retailer and distributor of Shell and Engen-branded fuels and lubricants, has agreed to form a non-fuel joint venture to accelerate the roll-out of KFC restaurants in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

The 50:50 joint venture will manage and operate the restaurants in the three markets on behalf of Kuku Foods East Africa Holdings (Kuku Foods), who will remain the local KFC franchisee. Completion of this transaction is subject to standard legal agreements and regulatory and competition authority approval.

The restaurants, 22 in Kenya and 8 in Uganda, are located in shopping malls, city centre locations, and service stations. Kuku Foods plans to open its first KFC restaurant in Rwanda in 2019.

The joint venture will enable a significant increase in the number of KFC restaurants in the portfolio in the coming years. It is envisaged that many of the new restaurants will be opened at Vivo Energy's network of service stations across Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, which leverages Vivo Energy's retail footprint, with more countries to be considered in the future, based on market opportunities.

Commenting on the transaction, Christian Chammas, CEO of Vivo Energy, said: "We are delighted to be partnering with Kuku Foods to replicate the KFC joint venture model we pioneered in Botswana and Côte d'Ivoire.  Kuku Foods shares our ambition to invest in order to grow the number of restaurants and give more African customers access to the internationally renowned KFC brand. This partnership further demonstrates our ambition to continue to offer more convenience to satisfy the evolving needs of our growing number of African customers."

Ends

Notes to editors:

About Vivo Energy plc (Vivo Energy):

Vivo Energy operates and markets its products in countries across North, West, East and Southern Africa. The Group has a network of over 2,100 service stations in 23 countries operating under the Shell and Engen brands and exports lubricants to a number of other African countries. Its retail offering includes fuels, lubricants, card services, shops, restaurants and other non-fuel services. It provides fuels, lubricants and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to business customers across a range of sectors including marine, mining, construction, power, transport, and manufacturing. Jet fuel is sold to customers under the Vitol Aviation brand.

The Company employs around 2,700 people and has access to over 1,000,000 cubic metres of fuel storage capacity. The Group's joint venture, Shell and Vivo Lubricants B.V., sources, blends, packages and supplies Shell-branded lubricants at plants in six countries.

For more information about Vivo Energy, please visit www.vivoenergy.com

About Kuku Foods East Africa Holdings Limited (Kuku Foods):

Kuku Foods is KFC's East Africa franchisee in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. It was established in 2011 in Kenya, when it opened its first KFC Restaurant in Nairobi at Junction Mall. The business has expanded over the last eight years to 35 restaurants across East Africa, having twenty-two in Kenya, eight in Uganda and five in Tanzania.  (Kuku Foods in Tanzania is not part of this transaction.) In 2019, Kuku Foods will be opening its first restaurant in Rwanda and continues with its expansion drive in Kenya and Uganda. Upon formation of the joint venture, Kuku Foods will retain ownership of the local KFC franchises.

The company has achieved numerous awards and accolades including Delivery Operator of the Year 2018, Franchisee of the Year 2016 and KFC in Kenya was voted the most loved fast food brand in the 2015 coveted Taste Awards, People's Choice category.

Its success in East Africa is attributed to a strong local management team and skilled workforce who are qualified and dedicated to providing outstanding customer service, interacting with customers in a meaningful way and helping the company grow. Kuku Foods employs over 1,000 well-trained team members at both its restaurants and head office level across the region. It continuously invests in developing its people and provides numerous learning and growth opportunities for each of them.

Forward-looking statements

This announcement includes forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control and all of which are based on the Directors' current beliefs and expectations about future events. Forward-looking statements are sometimes identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as: "believe", "expects", "may", "will", "could", "should", "shall", "risk", "intends", "estimates", "aims", "plans", "predicts", "continues", "assumes", "positioned", "anticipates" or "targets" or the negative thereof, other variations thereon or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts. They appear in a number of places throughout this report and include statements regarding the intentions, beliefs or current expectations of the Directors or the Group concerning, among other things, the future results of operations, financial condition, prospects, growth, strategies of the Group and the industry in which it operates.

No assurance can be given that such future results will be achieved; actual events or results may differ materially as a result of risks and uncertainties facing the Group. Such risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to vary materially from the future results indicated, expressed, or implied in such forward-looking statements.

Such forward-looking statements contained in this report speak only as of the date of this report. The Company and the Directors expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to update these forward-looking statements contained in the document to reflect any change in their expectations or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which such statements are based, unless required to do so by applicable law.