LONDON (Alliance News) - Applegreen PLC on Friday said profit increased slightly in the first half of 2018 following the opening of 26 new retail outlets.
The Dublin-based service station retailer - which describes itself as "Irish to the Core" - said pretax profit rose slightly in the six months to June 30 to EUR9.1 million from EUR8.9 million, as revenue climbed 27% to EUR854.9 million from EUR672.5 million.
Applegreen declared an interim dividend of 0.63 euro cents, up from 0.60 cents paid the year prior.
During the recent period, the company said it opened 26 new sites, taking the total number of sites to 368. Like-for-like food & store sales increased year-on-year by 3.5%.
Selling & distribution expenses, excluding rent and depreciation also grew by 38% EUR82.6 million, due to the site acquisitions in the US and UK in late 2017.
Administrative expenses, excluding share based payment expense, non-recurring costs and depreciation were up by 28% to EUR18.3 million, driven by business growth, targeted marketing campaigns and further investment in management capacity.
"Our financial performance for the first six months of 2018 has been robust notwithstanding the difficult trading conditions caused by the exceptional weather in March, especially in our Irish business," said Chief Executive Bob Etchingham.
"We remain confident in the prospects for the business in 2018," added Etchingham.
Shares in Applegreen remain suspended after the acquisition of a majority stake in the motorway service station franchise Welcome Break, announced in August.
