Motorway forecourt firm Applegreen gains mileage on trend of forecourts becoming food and EV charging destinations.
Applegreen has invested nearly €300 million in its business this year as part of a €1 billion five-year expansion strategy across Ireland, the UK and the United States.
The roadside hospitality group opened new sites in Ireland and Britain, completed two major investment programmes in the US, and continued to grow its electric vehicle charging network in all three markets.
“As we continue to redevelop our sites, particularly in the US, and grow organically, we expect this profit to increase in the coming years”
Applegreen operates 435 locations across its three core markets, with more than 750 branded food outlets serving 180 million customers annually. The group employs about 16,900 people.
Driving change
“Applegreen is continuing to make very significant progress across all facets of the Group,” said Joe Barrett, co-founder and chief executive. “We’re investing for the long term at home in Ireland and in our overseas markets in Britain and the United States. Our plans to invest €1 billion in the business are well on track and we are very excited about our future prospects.”
The company agreed the €187 million sale of its UK petrol filling station business earlier this year to focus on larger motorway and trunk road service areas with greater retail and food offerings. In the US, Applegreen invested $74 million to acquire a 60 per cent stake in Project Service, which operates 23 travel plazas in Connecticut. The group also completed upgrades to 21 highway travel plazas in New Jersey and reopened the last of 27 redeveloped sites on the New York State Thruway.
In Britain, Welcome Break, Applegreen’s UK arm, opened a new motorway service area near Rotherham at a cost of £55 million, its largest single-site investment to date. It also signed a 75-year lease extension for eight key motorway service areas with the UK Department for Transport.
In Ireland, the group opened a new motorway service area on the M3 in Dunshaughlin and introduced Taco Bell to the market. Its partnership with M&S Food now spans 35 outlets, while its Braeburn Café and Crafted Kitchen & Deli concepts have expanded further.
Newly filed accounts for parent company Causeway Consortium Holdings show gross profit rose 7 per cent to just over €1 billion in 2024. Adjusted EBITDA, the group’s key performance metric, increased 4 per cent to almost €297 million, while turnover declined 1 per cent to €3.8 billion, partly due to the disposal of smaller US sites.
The UK remains Applegreen’s largest market with €2 billion in sales last year, followed by Ireland at €1.1 billion and the US at €700 million. The group recorded a pre-tax loss of €92 million, compared with €83 million in 2023, reflecting depreciation, financing costs and €24 million in non-recurring charges linked to site openings and asset disposals. Excluding these items, pre-tax profit rose 28 per cent to €42.3 million.
“Applegreen had a strong trading performance during 2024, and we have robust plans in place for future growth,” Barrett said. “As we continue to redevelop our sites, particularly in the US, and grow organically, we expect this profit to increase in the coming years.”
Founded in 1992 with its first service station in Ballyfermot, Dublin, Applegreen now operates almost 200 locations in Ireland.
Top image: Joe Barrett, co-founder and chief executive, Applegreen
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