Forecourt retailer Applegreen hosts its annual general meeting in Dublin today, and ahead of the meeting, the Ireland-based group said that it has posted a 'positive start' to the 2017 financial year 'both in terms of trading and the development of the business'.
"Our business in Ireland is delivering strong growth in non-fuel sales in particular while fuel margin experience has been in line with 2016," Daniel Kitchen, Applegreen chairman said in a statement.
"We continue to enjoy good growth in UK food sales as we expand our branded food offering. Overall the trading performance of the business for the first four months of the year has been in line with the Board’s expectations."
Site Expansion
The group has added 16 new sites to its store estate since the end of December last year, including ten sites in Ireland, as well as one in Northern Ireland and three in mainland UK.
In addition, the group has also opened two new petrol filling station sites in New England in the US, as part of its development strategy there. The group has "made very good progress in generating further opportunities to grow in that region," said Kitchen. "We have added to our management team to cater for the growth planned in that region."
The group added that it has a 'significant number of projects' in the pipeline in Ireland and the UK, and is 'confident of further expanding our businesses in each territory'.
Dividend
It plans to pay a maiden dividend of 1.25c per share in June 2017, subject to shareholder approval at the AGM.
"In summary, the Board is very satisfied with the progress and performance of the business for the first four months of the year," said Kitchen. "This gives us confidence in our ability to meet our growth targets for 2017."
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
