Applegreen defers bonuses and scraps dividend as Covid-19 hits footfall

Forecourt retailer Applegreen warned on Tuesday that it expected a "material reduction" in profits this year as footfall has dropped in its stores in Ireland, the UK and US as governments and customers take measures to contain coronavirus.

The company is taking a number of measures – including the deferral of capital spending and director bonuses and the scrapping of a final dividend for 2019 – to conserve cash.

It said all of its stores currently remained open and it was working hard to protect the health and safety of staff and provide service to customers.

"Given the ongoing uncertainty we are unable to quantify the impact of Covid-19 on our financial and trading performance at this stage. However, we expect a material reduction to profitability for the current financial year," said the company, led by chief executive Bob Etchingham.

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“The scale is dependent on how the situation develops and over what timeframe, and the impact of further measures taken by the governments in the markets in which we operate.”

Applegreen said its 2019 results, scheduled for release on Friday, would be in line with market expectations, and show that the group posted solid like-for-like growth across the publishes, particularly in non-fuel.

The company had “traded strongly and in line with management expectations” for the first 10 weeks of the year, before footfall fell as Covid-19 spread and caused havoc across western economies.