Irish petrol forecourt retailer Applegreen plots June AIM flotation
Petrol forecourt retailer Applegreen has revealed plans to raise a gross €70m through a joint listing in AIM and Dublin to fund expansion plans in the UK and Ireland.
FTSE AIM All-Share
755.28
17:14 26/04/24
The company, Ireland’s largest independent petrol retailer, operates the two own food brands of aCafé and Bakewell and hosts international brands such as Subway, Costa Coffee, Burger King and more recently Greggs, Chopstix and Lavazza at its premises.
Applegreen plans to use the new cash to upgrade and rebrand up to 70 existing sites and accelerate expansion above the current 20-sites-per-year rate in Ireland and Great Britain.
Management, led by chief executive Bob Etchingham and newly appointed chairman Daniel Kitchen, ex of Heron International and Irish Nationwide Building Society, are also pondering the potential for building on the existing small US business as well as opportunistic acquisitions of portfolios of sites that may become available.
At the end of 2014, the group had a total of 152 sites, of which 96 are in the Republic of Ireland, 54 in the UK and two in Long Island, USA.
In calendar 2014, the group made revenue of €937.3m and adjusted EBITDA of €22.8 million.
Said Etchingham: "The group is well positioned to benefit from recovering economic growth and increased disposable income in the Republic of Ireland and the UK, as well as favourable market trends as the oil majors exit the forecourt market."
Applegreen's initial public offer will be run in the UK by broker Shore Capital.
ShoreCap's retail guru Clive Black said: "'Applegreen is a hybrid discount fuel and marvellous food-to-go business that has a fabulous presence in Ireland and should be increasingly popular in the UK with expansion; its motorway service station in Northern Ireland is tremendous as a taste of things to come."