Petrol retailer Applegreen eyes 10 sites

Applegreen, the Irish petrol forecourt firm which made its stock market debut in June, plans to open a further 10 outlets across Ireland, the UK, and the US by the end of the year as it seeks to tap the strong economic recovery.

It also said it has little to fear in higher costs from any increases in the minimum wage here and proposed increases in the so-called ‘living wage’ in Britain because, it says, any increases could work in its favour by boosting consumer spending.

The company yesterday said its gross profit rose by over 34.5% to €56.9m in the first six months to the end of June from a year earlier.