Esso oil distributor buys rival for €5m

Esso's oil distribution activities in Ireland are undergoing a shake-up as a result of two significant corporate transactions.

Three Rivers Oil, a Kilkenny-based company that distributes on behalf of Esso, has been sold to Jones Distribution, which also distributes fuel for the major oil firm.

Jones Distribution is believed to have paid less than €5 million to acquire the business, a deal that strengthens its activities on the east coast.

Latest accounts for Jones Distribution show that it made a pretax profit of €501,000 on turnover of €226 million.

No accounts are available for Three Rivers. Accounts for its parent company, Danaeve, show that it had oil distribution revenues of €36.6 million in the 12 months to the end of September 2005.

On the opposite side of the State, Suttons Oil, an oil distributor owned by Bord Na Móna, is believed to be in the final stages of a sale process.

It is understood that two groups, Ted- castles and Sweeney Oil, are on a shortlist to buy Suttons Oil.

The sale is being handled by accounting firm KPMG and law firm McCann FitzGerald.

Suttons Oil is believed to have a turnover of about €40 million and employs 45 staff at depots in Cork, Limerick, Galway, Tralee and Claremorris.

The company is an Esso dealer in the south and the west.

It supplies home-heating oil and fuel to commercial groups, farmers and those in the marine industry.

John Sweeney, a Galway-based millionaire and property investor, is known to be keen to expand his oil operations.

He was outbid by Topaz in the race to buy both Shell and Statoil's forecourt operations in Ireland.

"It's a difficult market to make money from and you need scale; that is what's driving these deals," said one source.