LONDON (Alliance News) - Applegreen PLC on Monday reported a slight fall in profit in 2015 due to costs associated with its initial public offering, but revenue grew in its first full year since listing on AIM and it said it is confident of delivering growth in 2016.
The Dublin-based petrol forecourt retailer said its pretax profit in 2015 dipped to EUR13.9 million from EUR14.9 million in 2014, although revenue grew to EUR1.08 billion from EUR937.3 million.
Applegreen said profit was hit by a EUR2.4 million share-based payment charge relating to its initial public offering last June, which contributed to an increase in administrative expenses to EUR24.3 million from EUR16.2 million. Additionally, a one-off property disposal profit of EUR2.9 million in 2014 wasn't repeated.
Adjusted pretax profit, which strips out exceptional one-off costs, grew by nearly a quarter to EUR17.7 million from EUR14.5 million, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation grew by just over a quarter to EUR28.9 million from EUR23.0 million.
Applegreen said revenue growth was driven by new site openings at the end of 2014 and early 2015, as well as by an increased contribution from food following an upgrade and rebrand programme. As at December 31, Applegreen had 200 sites in its estate, up from 152 at the end of 2014.
"We have had a positive start to 2016, adding four Service Area sites and seven petrol filling stations to the estate, and we continue to see good opportunities for green field and bolt-on expansion. Consumer sentiment is strong in both our key markets, particularly the Republic of Ireland, and we are confident that our distinctive retail offering in the forecourt sector will continue to deliver growth through 2016," Chief Executive Bob Etchingham said in a statement.
Shares in Applegreen were trading up 3.1% at 361.75 pence on Monday morning.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com @KarolinaAllNews
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