Top 50 Indie Penny Petroleum has signed a deal to move a further eight of its Scottish convenience stores to Spar.

With a total of 52 forecourts around the UK, Penny Petroleum - currently number 6 in the latest Top 50 Indies listing - has had two sites with Spar stores for two years. By the end of 2019, it will move a further eight stores in Scotland to Spar, with all 10 stores to be supplied by CJ Lang & Son Ltd.

Vicky Hennessy, business development manager at Penny Petroleum said: “Spar has a strong brand presence in Scotland, which will help develop our business in this geographical area. Having worked with Spar and CJ Lang since 2017, we have been impressed by their commitment and support.

“Spar has been proactive in helping us engage with our communities, including product launch days and healthy eating for local schools. Their team are passionate about helping us achieve our goals, and they deploy their team to get the best from each store so we all work together.”

The move will take place over the next six months, as the team look at internal and external branding at each site. There will be a focus on expanding food-to-go, fresh and frozen food ranges, and beer, wine and spirits.

Mike Leonard, CJ Lang & Son Ltd sales director, said: “At Spar Scotland we have worked closely with Penny Petroleum on the two existing sites. We are delighted that they have given us the opportunity to service and develop a further eight stores.

“With our best-in-class chilled offer, our vision for food-to-go, our unrivalled distribution network, as well as our dedicated account management and support team, we are confident that we can grow the Scottish arm of Penny Petroleum.”

David Penny, managing director of Penny Petroleum Group, said: “Our Scottish side of the business has grown significantly over the past couple of years, and with the number of sites that we now have in that area, we need the right partner to move forward with.

“Our core values at Penny Petroleum are ‘passion, pride, positivism, partnerships and perseverance’ and we look for these attributes when making business decisions. Spar Scotland has shown these characteristics.

“This new partnership will help us meet our customer needs locally and develop our stores and teams to do so. I look forward to seeing where this journey will take us.”

The Penny Petroleum Group will celebrate 25 years of trading in 2019.