Applegreen has revealed sales up 16% to 517m in its first set of results since its flotation in June.

For the six months ended June 30 it also pushed up EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) up 42% to 10.7m.

During the period it added 23 sites across the UK and Ireland and increased food outlets by 18, including two new offers, Greggs and Chopstix noodle bars.

Towards the end of the period the flotation raised 65.2m after expenses.

Commenting on the results, CEO Bob Etchingham said: "We are very pleased to announce our first interim results as a public company. The group has delivered a strong performance in the first half of 2015 reflecting the positive contribution from site openings in the latter part of 2014 and the increased contribution from food driven by our upgrade programme.

"Growth was evenly spread across the Republic of Ireland and the UK, with the latter’s contribution also benefiting from the strength of sterling against the euro.

"We continued to expand our business in the six months adding two service areas and three petrol filling stations in the Republic of Ireland, as well as expanding our network of dealer sites by 11. In the UK site numbers increased by five, including the first motorway services in Northern Ireland."