Top 50 Indie MPK Garages has signed a deal with Essar Oil UK to rebrand and supply an initial tranche of 12 sites, and with Morrisons to introduce Morrisons Daily convenience stores on its sites.

The deal  with Essar, which is the biggest secured by the Essar team to date, will see the company network expand to 67 stations and include the first rebrand of a BP site.

Under the new agreement, the first Essar site has been launched at Riverside in Belper, Derbyshire.  The 3mlpa station, previously under the BP marque, will be followed by a further 11 sites that will be rebranded by the end of November. 

The 12 sites range from Worcester to Doncaster in South Yorkshire.  MPK has also entered into a franchise agreement with Morrisons, which will see the addition of Morrisons Daily convenience stores at most MPK sites.

Nerissa Haskic, director of the new owner of MPK Stratford Retail Group, said: “Our business plan is focused on transforming and expanding the retail business and we felt that the partnerships with Essar and Morrisons could best support our strategy and underpin growth.

“There is a great working relationship between our companies, with Essar demonstrating they have both the capability and the ambition to support our growth in the UK.  They were a logical choice for us, with an outstanding brand image, product range and quality.  We expect to experience strong growth in fuel volumes and retail sales and our managing director Paul Kershaw and the MPK management team are very excited about this project.”

Essar Oil UK chief executive S Thangapandian commented: “This is a defining moment for the Essar retail proposition in the UK.  Our team had been working with the new owner of MPK, Stratford Retail Group, ahead of their acquisition of these sites and we were delighted to reach agreement to support their plans to transform the business. 

“At an average of 3mlpa, this is exactly the right platform for our retail offering and with guaranteed quality supply, we also expect to be able to expand our range of premium fuels through this estate. The new MPK partnership with Morrisons is very exciting and will see investment over the coming months to further improve the customer experience.”

In the 2018 Forecourt Trader Top 50 Indies, published in March, MPK was ranked 10th with 29 sites and annual fuel volume of 92mlpa.

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