All Analysis articles – Page 9
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Analysis
Playing the trump card
Retailers got a nasty surprise in the post last month - a letter from BP announcing it was ending its agreement with Arval. And, according to some in the industry, the news also came as quite a shock to Arval. But will the fact that the UK’s biggest retail fuel ...
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Analysis
Crunch time
If you’ve noticed your fuel sales are noticeably down on last year, you’re not alone. Retailers around the country are reporting a significant drop in volume - and those with sites in the north are seemingly the worst hit. With fuel prices hitting £1.19 for a litre of unleaded and ...
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Analysis
Would you credit it?
Customers can no longer fill up at the pumps using their Arval fuel cards at Nuns’ Bridges Filling Station in Norfolk. Due to rising fuel costs pushing up the amount of commission he was paying, the site’s owner, Steve Jones, found he was running the service at a loss. But ...
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Analysis
Running on empty
Gordon Brown met oil industry chiefs last week amid mounting pressure to act over spiralling fuel prices. The PM used the meeting in Scotland to warn that high oil prices were here to stay, and were not just a UK problem but part of global demand outstripping supply. The comments ...
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Analysis
Fumi-Gate
Since the announcement last month about a raft of new proposals affecting the display and packaging of tobacco products as part of the Government’s Cancer Reform Strategy - particularly targeting teenage smokers - tobacco manufacturers and trade associations have been busy trying to rally the troops to fight back. And ...
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Analysis
Set in motion
The Car Wash Campaign Group (CWCG) is urging retailers to contact their MPs regarding an Early Day Motion (EDM) tabled on the group’s behalf. Bob Russell, Liberal Democrat MP for Colchester, has tabled EDM 941 on unregulated car wash sites, which states: "That this House recognises the important role that ...
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Analysis
Commission cop-out
Petrol retailer Paul Sykes probably sums up what most in the industry thought when they read the Competition Commission’s latest report on the UK grocery market. "It came as a disappointment - but not a surprise," says the Shaws Petroleum managing director. "It shows that they haven’t a clue about ...
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Analysis
More harm than good?
Biofuels have hardly been out of the news recently, and just about everyone seems to have an opinion on whether they are our friend or our foe. One of the many groups joining the debate this month was The Royal Society - an independent academy promoting natural and applied sciences ...
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Analysis
Moving forward
Aleef Garages is one of the biggest names in the UK independent forecourt retail sector, and few in the industry could have failed to spot the recent headlines about the company. In November, nine former Aleef employees, including three former directors, were jailed for their part in a major tax ...
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Analysis
’Greavous’ harm
As Shell continues its relentless cut-price fuel strategy, the rest of the petrol retailing industry continues to scratch its head in total disbelief. None more so than independent dealer Graham Greaves, who runs a third-generation family-run petrol forecourt and coach business - Henry Cooper, Lane End Garage in Annitsford, Northumberland ...
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Analysis
Bio logic
The fuel industry is gearing up for its biggest change in recent years - and it’s all in an effort to go green. Last month MPs voted in favour of the government’s Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO), which aims to bring the UK into line with EU environmental targets. The ...
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Analysis
A Taxing Issue
Filling up at the pumps has got a lot more painful recently. With the price of a litre of fuel topping the £1 mark at forecourts up and down the country, motorists’ hackles have been rising. Gordon Brown’s 2p tax hike has stirred up a real hornets’ nest, with industry ...
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Analysis
Taken for granted
The number of petrol stations serving the motoring public has been falling for years but suddenly, it seems, the whole world is beginning to take an interest, with coverage in the national press and on TV and radio bemoaning the loss of the community forecourt. The latest figures from forecourt ...
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Analysis
Wash out
This summer’s floods caused havoc at forecourts across the country - but it was when the water started to drain away that the real problems started. Some forecourt operators have been so badly hit they are expecting to be closed for weeks. For others, the repair work and insurance claims ...
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Analysis
The fuel faithful
Investment in shops across the continent should sometimes be treated with caution, and retailers could encourage more convenient channels of quick payment for fuel-only customers. That’s the message from Datamonitor in its latest report: The Competitive Landscape in European Forecourt Convenience Retailing. "As margins on fuel have dropped, there has ...
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Analysis
Wash board
This time last year the south east of England was in the grip of drought orders, with many petrol retailers fearing their car washes would be shut down - with dire consequences to their business. And while the current soggy weather couldn’t be more contrasting to that of 2006, certain ...
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Analysis
Crime by numbers
Fuel buyers could be forgiven for feeling uneasy next time they hand over their plastic at the filling station. Last year 60% of the 250 credit card fraud ’hot spots’ in the UK were petrol forecourts, according to APACS, the UK payments association, and the problem was recently highlighted when ...
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Analysis
Fiasco fuels alarm
Last month’s furore over contaminated fuel brought some unexpected good fortune to many independent retailers, with increases in fuel volumes of as much as 40% or more being reported by some sites. But that may not have been the only benefit. PRA director Ray Holloway believes the petrol retailing industry ...
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Analysis
Alive & kicking
The UK forecourt sector is healthy, with independent operators leading the way, according to Arthur Renshaw, Catalist’s UK and Ireland sales manager, speaking at the Energy Institute’s inaugural Forecourt Strategies and Trends conference last month. With sites currently disappearing at the rate of about 300 a year - there were ...
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AnalysisWaiting game
News that Torex Retail plc was being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office, shortly after it had announced a dire profits warning followed by a suspension of share dealing, has sent shivers down the spines of the many forecourt operators who use the company’s retail systems. There are estimated to ...
