14th Sep 2015 07:41
LONDON (Alliance News) - Irish petrol forecourt retailer Applegreen PLC on Monday said its pretax profit was slightly lower in the first half due to stock-market listing costs, but revenue and its adjusted pretax profit rose on the back of new site openings and upgrades.
The company said its pretax profit in the six months to the end of June was EUR3.0 million, down from EUR3.2 million due to the company booking costs related to its listing in London in June, when it raised EUR91.7 million. Stripping this out, however, adjusted pretax profit for the company was up by 43% to EUR5.2 million from EUR3.6 million.
Group revenue in the half was up to EUR517.5 million from EUR445.1 million, driven by site openings from the prior year and by an increased contribution from food thanks to the company's upgrade programme. In the half, the group added 18 food outlets to its portfolio and launched partnerships with Chinese restaurant chain Chopstix and pastries and sandwiches retailer Greggs.
Revenue in Ireland was up by 12% in the half, while UK revenue rose 21%, with both boosted by site openings and upgrades to existing properties.
"The group has delivered a strong performance in the first half of 2015 reflecting the positive contribution from site openings in the latter part of 2014 and the increased contribution from food driven by our upgrade programme. Growth was evenly spread across both the Republic of Ireland and the UK, with the latter's contribution also benefiting from the strength of sterling against the euro during this period," said Bob Etchingham, Applegreen's chief executive.
"Trading since the end of June has been positive and while we expect the rate of growth in the second half to be lower than the first half, we are on track to deliver results in line with market expectations," Etchingham added.
Shares in Applegreen were down 3.3% in London to 350.00 pence early on Monday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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