Harvest Energy’s parent company Prax Group has bought the sixth ranked company in the Top 50 Indies, HKS, for an undisclosed sum. In the 2018 Top 50 Indies, Leicester-based HKS had 68 sites and claimed a turnover of £250m.

A spokesperson for Prax said: "The acquisition reflects the group’s strategic objective to move into a new stage of accelerated investment, growth and development."

Documents posted at Companies House show the founders of HKS, Hasukumar, Kamlesh and Shailesh Thakrar resigned as directors of the company on October 30 and were replaced by Arani Soosaipillai, Don Camillo Emilio Borneo, and Winston Sanjeevkumar Soosaipillai.

At the end of last year Prax Group bought Retail Fuels Limited, which was ranked at number 35 in the 2017 Top 50 Indies listing with nine sites.

At that time, Sanjeev Kumar, co-founder and chief executive officer of the Prax Group, told Forecourt Trader: "We look forward to working together to become one of the UK forecourt sector’s most successful operators."