Irish convenience retailer Applegreen is selling its gas station business in the United Kingdom and will use the proceeds from the transaction to invest in its business in the United States, Ireland and the U.K.
The company said its U.K. gas station business, which has 98 sites, is being sold to EG On The Move, a U.K. operator of filling stations and convenience stores. The sale is expected to close by the end of January. An Applegreen spokesperson told CSP it would not comment on the price of the sale.
The 1,142 staff members at those 98 sites are expected to transfer to the new owners as part of the transaction, apart from a “very small number” of employees who work in functions that overlap with he new owner, Applegreen said.
Applegreen PLC is No. 32 on CSP’s 2024 Top 202 ranking of c-store chains by number of company-owned retail outlets.
This comes after Applegreen’s late 2024 announcement that it is investing more than $1 billion over the next five years to expand its business in Ireland and the United States. Its U.S. focus includes building larger travel plazas where food is “at the heart of the offer,” Applegreen co-founder and Group Chief Executive Joe Barrett previously said.
The sale of the U.K. gas station business does not affect Applegreen’s Welcome Break business, it said.
“We remain totally committed to our presence and further expansion in the U.K. market and have significant plans to expand both Welcome Break and our EV charging business there, as part of the €1 billion investment plan that we announced late last year,” said Applegreen Co-Founder and Chief Executive Joe Barrett. “We are growing the Welcome Break business in the U.K. by developing new-build locations and revamping many of our existing sites.”
Applegreen said it also plans to “invest heavily” in its electric vehicle (EV) charging business in Ireland, the U.K. and the U.S., with an approximately $87 million expansion program planned over the next five years.
EG On the Move operates gas stations and convenience stores in the United Kingdom, and is a separate business from Blackburn, United Kingdom-based EG Group Ltd., the parent company of EG America. In June, global retailer EG Group Ltd. sold its U.K. c-store business to Zuber Issa. Zuber Issa stepped down as co-CEO of EG Group, while his brother, Mohsin Issa, stayed on as sole CEO. Zuber Issa owns the EG On The Move brand, which has more than 34 EG On The Move-branded sites with plans for more on the way, Forecourt Trader reported.
Irish convenience-store retailer Applegreen, the holding company of Petrogas Group U.S. Inc., Plainview, New York, made its U.S. debut in 2014 after opening its first sites in New York state. It made its Top 202 debut in 2019 after a series of acquisitions increased its store count. The U.S. business includes sites in the North, Midwest and Southeast under the Shell, Exxon, Mobil, Sunoco, bp, Chevron, Holiday, Freedom and Speedway fuel brands. It has about 240 stores in the United States as of year-end 2023.
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