All Analysis articles – Page 8
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Analysis
Alexander Russell: consultant, Car Wash Association (CWA)
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 ...
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Analysis
Evading the issue
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 ...
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Analysis
Stephen Marcos Jones: UKPIA director general
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 ...
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Analysis
Tracy West: retail commentator
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 ...
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Analysis
Merril Boulton: editor
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 ...
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Analysis
Ray Blake: PRA technical director
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 ...
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Analysis
Chris Judge: analysis editor, Argus Media
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 ...
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Analysis
Competition for growth still intense
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 ...
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Analysis
Tracy West: retail commentator
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 ...
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Analysis
Merril Boulton: editor
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 ...
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Analysis
Kevin Eastwood: BOSS - executive director
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 ...
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Analysis
Chris Judge: analysis editor - Argus Media
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 ...
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Analysis
James Lowman: chief executive, ACS
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 ...
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Analysis
Turning the tide
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 ...
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Analysis
Tracy West: retail commentator
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 ...
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Analysis
Brian Madderson: PRA chairman
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. ...
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Analysis
Merril Boulton: editor
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 ...
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Analysis
Chris Judge: analysis editor, Argus Media
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 ...
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Analysis
Alexander Russell: consultant, Car Wash Association
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 ...
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Analysis
The police have got it wrong
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 ...