Service station giant Applegreen is going to sell part of its UK operations in a deal expected to be completed this month, it announced on Monday.
Nearly 100 filling stations owned by the company are being sold to UK firm EG on the Move, with a “very small number” of 1,142 Applegreen staff impacted by the sale at risk of losing their jobs, the firm said.
Applegreen said it has been in consultation with all affected employees in recent weeks.
The sale does not impact Applegreen locations in Northern Ireland, which are part of the Welcome Break brand and included in the transaction.
This brand employs over 6,000 people in 59 sites, which include 35 motorway service areas as well as 31 hotels.
The motorway service company operates almost 200 locations in Ireland. It has a partnership with M&S which has seen 21 M&S food stores open at Applegreen sites on the island.
It has three motorway service areas in Northern Ireland, as well as smaller sites at Ballymena and Hillsborough.
The new M&S Food at Lisburn South’s Applegreen filling station
Joe Barrett, Applegreen co-founder and chief executive said: “We remain totally committed to our presence and further expansion in the UK market and have significant plans to expand both Welcome Break and our EV charging business there, as part of the €1bn (£0.8bn) investment plan that we announced late last year.
“We are growing the Welcome Break business in the UK by developing new-build locations and revamping many of our existing sites.
“We have a strong pipeline of additional UK sites for development on locations adjacent to motorways and alongside a number of major A-roads.
“This week, for example, we will open a new £55m state-of-the-art Welcome Break MSA on the M1 near Rotherham.
“The roll out of our successful M&S partnership, which is currently in 21 locations, will continue and we are also investing to expand our Braeburn Coffee brand.
“There will also be further investment in new sites, and upgrades to existing locations.”
In the UK and US, the company plans to focus on larger, food-centred sites while also investing €85m (£71.5m) in an expansion of its EV charging business in those countries, as well as in Ireland.
Last month, Applegreen announced the opening of two new M&S Food stores at the Lisburn South Applegreen on the M1 and the Templepatrick service area on the M2.