Maxol brothers take in €1.2 million

THE McMullan brothers, owners of the Maxol oil company, received more than €1.2 million in dividend payments in 2002, according to recently filed accounts.

The three brothers who own what is now the only major Irish oil company, saw the firm’s profits rise by close to 14% in the year to December 2002. Pre-tax profits rose from €89.9 million to €10.1m, companies’ office documents show.

Maxol is owned by the three brothers, Noel, Malcolm and Maxwell McMullan and their extended families. The dividend was flat year-on-year. Directors salaries for the year were down a touch at €901,000. The directors also took €241,000 in pension contributions.

Maxol runs 70 own-brand petrol stations across Ireland and a further 239 stations under the name are owned by independent retailers.

Turnover at the company increased from €463 million to €479m, propped up by the acquisition of Limerick-based Estuary Fuels towards the end of 2002, which added over €20 million to the turnover figure. Excluding the acquisition turnover of the year was down.

Maxol acquired Estuary in September 2002 adding another 40 service stations to its existing network.

Although the price was not disclosed, the accounts state that it paid €9.2m for Buselle Limited, the holding company for the Estuary business. At the time Maxol said the deal will also push group turnover to €600 million and annual oil sales volumes to one billion litres.

The accounts show that Maxol is an extremely profitable company with retained profits of €42.6 million, total shareholders funds of €52m and cash of €6m.

Excluding the independent service station Maxol employs 257 people, a slight increase on the previous year. The wages and salary bill for the company came to €10.7m.

Maxol has been on the acquisition trail in recent years following its purchase of Connors Fuels, the leading home heating firm in Northern Ireland, in late 2000.

In 1996, Maxol also acquired 80 Statoil and Jet filling stations and bought Ola Teoranta at an earlier stage. The accounts also show that aside from its core service stations and fuel distribution business it has a 45% in housebuilder Castletown Homes.

Maxol said that it has a 14% share of the retail market for petrol in Ireland and a 10% share of the home heating oil market.

Although the price of petrol has risen over the past year due to the oil price surge, traditional forecourt operators will face increased pressure on prices from supermarket chains, with Tesco expected to continue with its plans to expand into the forecourt market.