All Analysis articles – Page 9
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Analysis
Differential derby
Soaring fuel prices kept forecourts in the headlines last month. The average price of petrol rose almost 4.98ppl between mid-May and mid-June, according to the latest AA Fuel Price Report, making it the second-highest monthly increase ever recorded - the rise was only two-thirds of a penny short of the ...
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Analysis
An appetite for success
Shoppers continued to develop a healthy appetite for food-to-go on forecourts last year, helping to boost sales in the sector and cut retailers’ reliance on tobacco sales. That’s according to the Evolution of Convenience Retailing report, published by the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD), which found that food-to-go was the ...
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Analysis
Move over, Darling
While the consensus seemed to be that it was a pretty unspectacular Budget for petrol retailers, there have been some words of warning for the sector. Chancellor Alistair Darling’s announcement could be summed up as a few more pence on fuel, a couple of pence on tobacco and alcohol, and ...
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Analysis
Highly rated
Retailers have been given a last-minute reprieve over business rates, but have been warned that they will bear the brunt of further hikes that are due to be imposed in April 2010.On March 31, the Chancellor suddenly announced that a 5% increase, which had been due on April 1, would ...
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Analysis
Clamping catastrophe
When Kandasamy Nirmalan decided to make a stand against people using his London forecourt as a free car park he had no idea how much potential damage it would do to his business. But it resulted in a customer being ordered to pay £465, staging a sit-in and ...
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Analysis
Have your say
With the future of the Petrol Retailers’ Association (PRA) under review, the organisation could be looking at its first major shake up in years. Last month PRA director Ray Holloway revealedin Forecourt Trader that the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMIF) was conducting a business review of all the eight trade ...
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Analysis
Ashes to ashes
The government’s announcement on the tobacco display ban was met with shock and disbelief by the industry last month. Experts warned retailers they would end up shouldering the financial burden of a ’dark’ tobacco market, as well as having to deal with the other implications such as safety concerns in ...
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Analysis
Starting Over
It’s only a matter of weeks since GNE Group announced it had completed the sale of its fuel retailing subsidiary, Petrol Express.But GNE isn’t a company to rest on its laurels - it’s already back on the acquisition trail and says it’s got £50m to invest in its business. It ...
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Analysis
Easy does it...
What US retailer John MacDougall doesn’t know about running forecourts probably isn’t worth knowing. For four decades the businessman has worked to build up his mini empire, weathering any economic storms as well as the harsh winters in upstate New York. After buying out his original two partners of ...
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Analysis
Card sharp
A "huge sigh of relief" is how Petrol Retailers’ Assocation director, Ray Holloway, described the reaction around the dealer network to the recent Arval/BP agreement.He added: "It means Arval’s network of cards can be maintained. It’s a successful conclusion to the dispute and a step towards protecting a large part ...
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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 supplier ...
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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 a ...
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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 the car ...
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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 thecompany. In November, nine former Aleef employees, including three former directors, were jailed for their part in a major tax fraud ...
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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 ...