It’s been another busy year for forecourt retailers. We’ve had the completion of the MFG/Morrisons deal and Zuber Issa buying EG Group’s UK forecourts and starting an ambitious acquisition spree.
Those were ‘good news’ stories, however, on the bad side were drive-offs and shoplifting incidents hitting the headlines with, astonishingly, one senior police officer excusing drive-offs as ‘drivers having a bad day’.
Feelgood stories included Rahila and Danny Ahmed opening a boutique hotel over their Gulf site in Birmingham and Harvest Energy’s Stuart Riding buying his first forecourt.
For Roger Perry, who has two sites in Yorkshire, the highs of 2024 included the resilience the sector: “It is amazing, forecourt profitability remains good, and we continue to maintain the shop volumes put on during covid. Those of us that have invested in the last couple of years are seeing a good return and both demand and prices remain strong for property.”
On the ‘low’ side, Perry says verbal and physical abusive towards staff has never been greater. “While there are pockets of support from the police in some areas, staff deserve far greater respect and support than they are getting at the moment.
For Dan Perry, director of operations at Ron Perry & Son, 2024 was a case of the ‘good, the bad and the ugly’.
“The high point of the year was being nominated for five Forecourt Trader of the Year awards and enjoying the always brilliant awards shindig, while the low point of the year has been the spate of shoplifting that seems to be an industry-wide problem,” says Perry.
“We have mitigated this by installing the Vars ANPR system along with AI face recognition cameras but the root problem of the shoplifters has been a gruelling and ongoing battle throughout the year.
“The good news throughout the year has been that fuel margins have been relatively steady; Rollover hot dog sales have maintained steady growth along with the hot food in general. The bad news was that overall operating costs rising in the form of utility bills and broader supplier pricing. The minimum wage increase of April 2024 seems to have pushed up the relative costs across the board in our industry sector, necessitating a near constant reassessment of supplier prices.
“And the ugly for the year was definitely when we had a site shutdown when a grenade was found onsite back in April, which involved the bomb disposal squad.”
Joe Hockenhull, managing director of Top 50 Indie Hockenhull Garages says the highs of 2024 were mostly down to fuel volumes growing to new heights and margins being fair and stable. “Seeing the growth in this area while matching the supermarkets’ pricing has given us a lot of encouragement for the future and allowed us to experiment in the business with new offers in store.”
Hockenhull agrees that forecourt crime – both in the shop and on the forecourt – has definitely grown: “However, with effective preventions like the ANPR services we utilise from both VARS and Big Brother, we have combatted both elements well; although it will never irradicate it completely. Introducing the TSG pay at the pump/pre-payment at some of our sites has lessened the issues also.
“Further challenges lie ahead with disposable vapes bans but with the industry being in a good position we feel ready for what’s coming and will adapt the way we need to.”
