Shares in Irish forecourt operator Applegreen rose by just more than 1 per cent in Dublin yesterday following the publication of results that were in line with market expectations.

In the six months to June 30th, revenue rose 7.4 per cent to €556 million, as the group’s pretax profit more than doubled to €7.5 million. Adjusted earnings (ebitda) increased by 15 per cent from €11.3 million in the first half of 2015 to €13 million in 2016.

Revenue in the Republic increased by 12.7 per cent and gross profit increased by 20.3 per cent. Like-for-like food and store sales and gross margin both increased by 8.5 per cent. Fuel gross profit increased by 20.5 per cent year on year including a like-for-like increase of 6.9 per cent.

‘Particularly strong’ growth

Applegreen chief executive Bob Etchingham said growth was "particularly strong" in the Republic, where its service areas and recent upgrades are well positioned to capture demand.

Applegreen opened two new service area sites and added three filling stations in the Republic in the first six months, while it also expanded its network of dealer sites by nine.

It now operates 220 locations, with a “strong pipeline” of new sites, particularly in the UK.

“In the UK, a more competitive environment impacted growth in the early part of the year and while this abated we also noted a more cautious consumer in advance of the Brexit vote,” he said.

Mr Etchingham said sales in its forecourt stores in the UK had been “very soft”in May and June in advance of the Brexit referendum but had rebounded somewhat in July and August. “Apart from the impact of the weaker sterling on the translation of our earnings, we expect our full-year performance to be in line with expectations,” the company said in its results statement.

Applegreen told The Irish Times that the weakness of sterling versus the euro since the Brexit vote would probably impact group earnings by 2 to 4 per cent this year. The company has no plans to hedge its currency requirements.

The company has added seven filling stations in the UK to its network since the end of June and Mr Etchingham said the Brexit vote had not caused it to pause its growth plans for that market.

“We would consider ourselves to be long-term players,” he said, adding that he expects to have added 15 forecourts to its UK network for the full year. “We have a good pipeline of new sites.”