Barely a week went by during 2024 without Top 50 Indie number one, MFG, appearing in council records across the land having applied for planning permission for one development or another.
Whether extending a shop or knocking down a car wash to make way for EV charging and jet washing, MFG is certainly keeping the planners busy.
Back at the start of 2024, MFG agreed to purchase 337 forecourts from Morrisons along with 421 plots of land at their supermarket locations for use as EV and valeting hubs. As part of the transaction, Morrisons took a 20% stake in MFG, although both businesses share the same proprietor.
This major acquisition well and truly cemented the business’s status as the UK’s biggest forecourt operator with 1,216 sites.
And as soon as MFG buys a site, its contractors get busy redeveloping as illustrated by the fact that all 337 Morrisons had been refurbished by the end of the year.
The company’s low-cost base means it is able to use free cash to invest in its estate, including redeveloping around 50 sites a year, either knocking them down and rebuilding them, extending them, or adding foodservice.
Another priority has been investing in a network of ultra rapid charging hubs, many of them on the 350 acres of land acquired from Morrisons. MFG’s impressive EV development programme aims to create “industry-leading travel retail destinations”. The company will have just under 1,000 EV ultra-rapid charging bays at around 200 sites by the end of this year and plans to add one EV hub a week next year.
All the hard work this year paid off at October’s Forecourt Trader of the Year Awards where MFG was on numerous shortlists and walked away with five trophies, including the top accolade for its new-build site in St Clears, Carmarthenshire.
And the journey continues as investment in MFG’s current estate will be more than £170m next year, says chief executive William Bannister.
