Nakendram Pitatheepan has sold five sites to Platinum Retail in a full circle deal, having been recruited by the Top 50 Indie as a contract manager seven years ago.
Pitatheepan, known in the industry as Theepan, went on to run half a dozen sites for the operator’s founder Sej Sejpal, and to building Sterling Petroleum, a network of his own 36 forecourts both leasehold and freehold.
The sale, which was brokered by property agent William Trott of WT Estates, brings Platinum Retail’s estate to 60 sites and includes:
- Mid Glamorgan Service Station in Aberdare in Wales: A 24-hour BP/Londis petrol station, on the A4059, with a fuel volume of 3.5 mlpa, and weekly shop sales of £15,000. Just south of Merthyr Tydfil and Cardiff it is a semi-rural big plot site, with laundry machines, and a rollover carwash.
- Saffron’s Cross Garage in Bodenham, Herefordshire: A 24-hour location with Murco fuel and a Londis shop. Based on the A417, this conventional roadside forecourt turns over 2.7mlpa in fuel and £25,000 a week in the shop.
- Cotswold Service Station in Moreton-in-Marsh, Cotswolds: This Gulf/Budgens site, which turns over 2.3mlpa in fuel and £15,000 a week in the shop, has a hand car wash and a workshop around the back.
- Cinderford Service Station in Gloucestershire: The two acre plot is home to around 30 storage units and an MOT workshop, and is in a prime location opposite a hospital. The Londis/Gulf forecourt has nearby competition from an EG On The Move development.
- And Westvale Service Station in Elland, near to Halifax, West Yorkshire: This Jet/Londis operation, which turns over 3.9mlpa and £16,000 a week in the shop, also has Amazon lockers on the forecourt.
Pitatheepan is in the process of selling another six forecourts to another operator, which he says should complete in the coming weeks. This will leave him with 26 sites – most on leasehold.
He says that selling while the market is high will enable him to restructure, putting him in a good position strategically to expand. The money from both bundles will give him cash to purchase other sites quickly without having to wait for lending from the bank, with a view to taking out mortgages on purchases retrospectively.
Based in Raglan in Wales, he has big ambitions to own 100 sites in the next five years, using experience he gained in running multiple sites from Sejpal, he says.
Pitatheepan originally joined the industry in 2008 as a cashier and then store manager for KT Investments. Then in August 2014 he became a contract manager for Rontec, where he says he learned the retailing aspect of the business from its founder Sir Gerald Ronson.
It was not until 2020 that he purchased his own forecourt, Mid Glamorgan Service Station, which he has now sold to Platinum Retail, which is run by Sejpal with two of his sons, Jamie and Josh.
Pitatheepan says that he thinks of his petrol retailing career as “going to school with KT Investments, taking A-levels with Sir Gerald Ronson and attending university with Sej Sejpal”.
He adds: “I have great gratitude to Sej and so it is nice to sell him these sites.”
Pitatheepan also attributes his success to his passion to do well. “I always wanted to have my own business. I would always try to please my boss and that would stress me out. I work really hard, and I thought ‘why not do this for myself’.”
