Engen refutes email rumour

The email alleged that Engen management had taken a decision not to sell any of its service stations to white people in the future and called on all white people to boycott Engen Service Stations.

Landsberg says that Engen has received numerous queries since the email emerged three weeks ago, but has not experienced a fall off in business, which is indicative of the support Engen continues to enjoy thanks to its loyal, level-headed and proudly South African customer base.

Comments Landsberg, "We do not engage in any business practices that could potentially destroy value in our company and pride ourselves on being ethical, fair and transparent. Engen is committed to a programme of black economic empowerment and a significant number of appointments have been made on this basis in line with the National Agenda. We see BEE as a value-adding strategy that will ensure the sustainability of our company in South Africa into the future."

According to her, Engen sites are well sought after and numerous applications for dealership are received from all population groups, and that just over 24% of service stations that were sold in the last six months have gone to new white owners. "No one is excluded," she says.

She says the firm has strict business processes in place to award ownership of Engen service stations. Elements that would influence decisions regarding ownership or management of Engen-owned sites include the merit of the applicant's business plan, general skills, business competence levels, financial resources and the Broad Based BEE element within the applicant's proposed business plan.

Further to this, the applicant would then need to successfully complete Engen's internal Practical Retailing Skills Programme before a final decision could be made.