Applegreen confirms Northern Ireland sites excluded from sale to EG On The Move
The sale does not affect Applegreen’s Welcome Break business in the UK, which also includes its operations in Northern Ireland, which employs more than 6,000 people at its 59 sites, including 34 Motorway Service Areas (MSAs), and 31 hotels
Applegreen has confirmed that its five petrol filling stations in Northern Ireland will not be part of the deal to sell nearly 100 filling stations to a UK operator of filling stations and convenience stores.
The deal, which includes Applegreen's entire UK petrol filling station (PFS) business, is set to close by the end of January 2025 with the proceeds being invested in its business in Ireland, UK and United States.
The sale, which involves 98 stations and a workforce of 1,142 employees, will transfer the UK PFS business to EG On The Move.
All staff in the UK PFS business are expected to transition to the new owners, except for a small group of employees impacted by overlapping roles, who are being redeployed or offered redundancy. Applegreen has been in consultation will all the employees in question in recent weeks.
In a statement, officials revealed ‘the sale does not affect Applegreen’s Welcome Break business in the UK, which also includes its operations in Northern Ireland, which employs more than 6,000 people at its 59 sites, including 34 Motorway Service Areas (MSAs), and 31 hotels’.
Applegreen employs 269 people across its Northern Ireland operations. It has three motorway service areas in Northern Ireland, at Lisburn North, Lisburn South and Templepatrick, as well sites at Ballymena and Hillsborough.
Applegreen co-founder and chief executive Joe Barrett, explained: “We remain totally committed to our presence and further expansion in the UK 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.
“We are growing the Welcome Break business in the UK by developing new-build locations and revamping many of our existing sites. We have a strong pipeline of additional UK sites for development on locations adjacent to motorways and alongside a number of major A-roads. This week, for example, we will open a new £55 million (€66 million) state-of-the-art Welcome Break MSA on the M1 near Rotherham.”
In Ireland, Applegreen will be continuing to invest in its petrol filling station business, as it is an integral part of its Irish operations.
Mr Barrett added: “The roll out of our successful M&S partnership, which is currently in 21 locations, will continue and we are also investing to expand our Braeburn Coffee brand. There will also be further investment in new sites, and upgrades to existing locations.”
In the UK and US, Applegreen is increasingly focussing on larger sites, with food at the heart of the customer offer.
Applegreen will also continue to invest heavily in its EV charging business in Ireland, the UK and the United States, with an €85 million expansion programme planned over the next five years.