Applegreen plans first motorway service area in England

Irish petrol forecourt firm Applegreen is planning its first motorway service area in England.

The proposed site is located south of Birmingham on the M42 and will create 300 jobs if the application is successful.

Applegreen said it was confirmed in 2009 that there was a significant need for a new motorway service area on this stretch of the M42 for highways safety reasons, which was one of the reasons the firm selected the site.

“The location of our site means we can deliver a very compact scheme that does not require building significant new access-road infrastructure in the Green Belt.”

In its proposal, Applegreen said it will plant new trees and landscaping to enhance the development and the landscape, adding that there will be no loss of ancient woodland.

Goodbody analyst Patrick Higgins said the continued investment by independent operators including Applegreen in the UK forecourt sector illustrates “the significant expansion opportunity in the region as the oil majors and supermarkets, aside from ASDA which has restarted its expansion, remain in retrenchment mode”.

Applegreen is expanding its operations after a successful IPO in June 2015 raised more than €90 million on the Irish and London stock exchanges.

The company said the net proceeds of the IPO will be used to “accelerate the expansion” of the group’s estate in Ireland and the UK by number of sites and by geography and to “upgrade and rebrand a number of existing sites”.

Applegreen has added four new sites this year, including a service area in Meath. The company has also opened a petrol filling station in the Long Island region of New York.

The motorway service area company reported a 26 per cent increase in earnings (Ebitda) to €28.9 million for the 12 months to December 31st, 2015. Profits before tax fell back by 6.8 per cent to €13.9 million, while revenues rose by 15 per cent to €1 billion.