Moto, the UK’s largest motorway services company, has blamed last year’s fall in petrol prices for a £37m drop in turnover.
The company saw sales fall from £840m to £803m in the year to December 24, 2014.
Sales not including fuel increased by 7.8%, while pre-tax losses fell to £72.9m from £77.6m the year before.
Moto has 40 motorway service stations across the UK plus a few sites on A-roads. It built Britain’s first carbon-neutral services on the A1(M) in Kirk Deighton, North Yorkshire.
Like its smaller competitors Welcome Break and Roadchef, Moto was saddled with huge amounts of debt when it was acquired by private equity and last refinanced in March this year.
This debt matures after 12 months, which has prompted its owners to consider a sell-off.
This latest set of accounts shows that interest charges are costing the business £130m a year to other companies in the group, which hold the external debt.
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