All Analysis articles – Page 15

  • Analysis

    Alexander Russell: consultant, Car Wash Association (CWA)

    2019-03-11T00:00:00Z

    Continued pressure by the Car Wash Association (CWA), together with support from MPs, was responsible for finally getting the issue of rogue hand car washes (HCWs) onto Parliament’s agenda via the Environmental Audit Committee’s (EAC) June 2018 hearings. It was rewarding that the EAC’s remit, the context in which they ...

  • Analysis

    Evading the issue

    2019-02-11T00:00:00Z

    When a Parliamentary Committee of MPs announced last year that it was launching an inquiry into the hand car wash sector it appeared that a long campaign was finally paying off. For years the PRA and its sister organisation, the Car Wash Association (CWA), have been highlighting the explosion in ...

  • Analysis

    Stephen Marcos Jones: UKPIA director general

    2019-02-11T00:00:00Z

    It is a new year, but the fuel supply industry faces the same challenges with uncertainty surrounding the UK’s exit from the EU first and foremost a concern on the forecourt and across our sector. While the message coming out of Westminster has often been confused and incohesive, the message ...

  • Analysis

    Tracy West: retail commentator

    2019-02-11T00:00:00Z

    I’ve played the National Lottery since it began nearly 25 years ago. Indeed I went to its launch at the Tower of London; I still remember it now. My old news editor remembers it too, because she says that after the first draw I came into work so disappointed because ...

  • Analysis

    Merril Boulton: editor

    2019-02-11T00:00:00Z

    Great to see that Shell is raising the bar on forecourt food with its launch of the Jamie Oliver deli by Shell range. The forecourt sector has been crying out for some ’properly decent’ food on the go, for some time. With the increasingly sophisticated, modern forecourts and services that ...

  • Analysis

    Ray Blake: PRA technical director

    2019-02-11T00:00:00Z

    My name is Ray Blake and I am a ’Petrol Head’. My addiction to cars drives my wife mad and I thank her for putting up with my obsession for over four decades. From the moment I was given my first Corgi model car when I was five, a Studerbaker ...

  • Analysis

    Chris Judge: analysis editor, Argus Media

    2019-02-11T00:00:00Z

    UK transport fuels shed around 1ppl in January, but the losses are expected to be short-lived, as international oil markets climbed steadily through the month in response to the US sanctions against oil-rich Venezuela. After shedding more than $30/bl in 2018 to end the year at around $53/bl, benchmark Ice ...

  • Analysis

    Competition for growth still intense

    2019-01-11T00:00:00Z

    We’ve just had a year of seismic events with the second largest operator, MFG, buying its larger rival MRH, and Sainsbury’s agreeing a deal with Asda that would make it the UK’s number one road fuel retailer. And while one deal has cleared all its regulatory hurdles, and the other ...

  • Analysis

    Tracy West: retail commentator

    2019-01-11T00:00:00Z

    Happy New Year to you all. I was going to begin the year with a look at trends but, if you were to believe all the hype, the biggest trend of all seems to be veganism. I say this because I was in my local Sainsbury’s right at the beginning ...

  • Analysis

    Merril Boulton: editor

    2019-01-11T00:00:00Z

    Happy New Year to you all let’s hope it’s a good one, as the song goes. As we launch into 2019, things appear pretty positive for the fuel retailing sector, with property prices staying strong despite the big deals done last year (see Focus on Property, p31). Even MFG’s buyout ...

  • Analysis

    Kevin Eastwood: BOSS - executive director

    2019-01-11T00:00:00Z

    During the second half of 2018 we saw a significant rise in incidents of crime on forecourts, and the BOSS Forecourt Crime Index for the third quarter of 2018 revealed a 13% rise in the number of incidents. Rising fuel prices also pushed the cost of crime to retailers up ...

  • Analysis

    Chris Judge: analysis editor - Argus Media

    2019-01-11T00:00:00Z

    Oil prices continued their downward trajectory in December after heavy losses in the last quarter of 2018. Concerns about over-supply were further complicated by an uncertain global economic outlook in response to US trade tariffs on China. These losses were partially reflected on the forecourt, but domestic retail prices continue ...

  • Analysis

    James Lowman: chief executive, ACS

    2019-01-11T00:00:00Z

    As we kick off 2019 with the government still squarely focused on Brexit, it’s easy to forget that there are other domestic policies and interventions on the horizon. We’re especially interested in two areas where the government is looking to influence consumer behaviour through new legislation. Let’s start with plastic ...

  • Analysis

    Turning the tide

    2018-12-19T00:00:00Z

    For many years the government has turned a deaf ear whenever the PRA and the Car Wash Association (CWA) have highlighted the scourge of illegal hand car washes springing up in towns and cities across the UK, but finally it has been presented with evidence it can’t ignore. The Commons ...

  • Analysis

    Tracy West: retail commentator

    2018-12-19T00:00:00Z

    Can you believe it’s December already. Well, actually I know all of you can because you will have been planning your stock and staff for months. Me? Well, I am just your average consumer so the fact that December is here is still a bit of a shock! And with ...

  • Analysis

    Brian Madderson: PRA chairman

    2018-12-19T00:00:00Z

    Many industry watchers thought that the very high values achieved by dealers (up to 12 x EBITDA) for their assets would soon start to wane. They had been exiting the market to sell to fast-growing groups backed by private equity funds where there was keen competition for rapid expansion. The ...

  • Analysis

    Merril Boulton: editor

    2018-12-19T00:00:00Z

    What an aggressive lot those ’gilet jaunes’ are, turning Paris into a war zone last month with the worst riots in decades. Protesters clashed with police, looting stores and torching shops and cars, creating absolute chaos on some of the most iconic streets in the city. The reason? Rising fuel ...

  • Analysis

    Chris Judge: analysis editor, Argus Media

    2018-12-19T00:00:00Z

    International oil prices were in freefall in November, posting the steepest monthly decline in four years on oversupply and political turbulence rippling through two of the world’s largest producers, Russia and Saudi Arabia. These heavy losses were reflected reasonably faithfully on the retail gasoline market in the UK, but falls ...

  • Analysis

    Alexander Russell: consultant, Car Wash Association

    2018-12-19T00:00:00Z

    The Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has published its report on hand car washes (HCWs) in the UK following written submissions and hearings held in the summer from a number of stakeholder parties, including the Car Wash Association. What transpired from the committee’s investigations was that serious and highly polluting ...

  • Analysis

    The police have got it wrong

    2018-11-12T00:00:00Z

    As police services across the UK have cut the number of frontline officers in response to funding pressures, chief constables and politicians have been looking for ways to ease the burden on the remaining crime fighters. One way that has been repeatedly suggested is downgrading the importance attached to forecourt ...