TWENTY-THREE YEARS after Applegreen opened its first forecourt in Ballyfermot, the company’s two founders should soon be sitting on a €200 million share pile.
The petrol station chain hopes to raise about €70 million selling shares to institutional and other investors as part of plans to float on both the London and Irish stock exchanges in late June.
It was set up in 1992 by its current chief executive Bob Etchingham and chief operations office Joe Barrett. At the end of last year, its network of forecourts extended to 152 sites, including 96 in the Republic or Ireland, 54 in the UK and two in the US.
The company, which will officially be rebranded from Petrogas Global to Applegreen as part of the float, plans to offer up at least 25% of its shares for sale which would put a total value of about €280 million on the firm.
The entirety of its existing shares are held by a company called B&J Holdings, which is based in Malta.
Applegreen’s last company filings show three-quarters of the shares belonged to Etchingham with the balance owned by Barrett, which means the pair between them will still hold a slice worth over €200 million if the share sale is successful.
Growth plans
Etchingham said the float would provide a platform for the company’s long-term growth plans.
We believe there are significant opportunities for expansion across the Republic of Ireland and the UK. 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.”
Last year the company turned over €937 million for earnings of €22.8 million. That was up from €804.5 million and a pre-tax profit of €10.1 million in 2013.
Its Irish forecourt network gave it a 12% share of the country’s total fuel market, however it is currently only a tiny player in the UK.
Applegreen said it planned to use the money from the share sale to upgrade and rebrand existing sites, and speed up its expansion.
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