Motor Fuel Group’s revenues have soared to £7bn following its £2.5bn acquisition of Morrisons’ 337 petrol forecourts in early 2024.
The 37.3% jump in turnover – an increase of £1.9bn – gave MFG a £62.5m bump to operating profits, which rose to £436.7m in the year to 31 December 2024. Gross margin was slightly diluted by the new acquisitions, falling from 11.6% from 11.1%.
By year end, the private equity-owned company operated 1,218 sites across the UK, including petrol forecourts from Morrisons and over 400 associated sites for EV charging, making it the UK’s largest fuel retailer by volume – and the second-largest convenience retailer by number of sites.
Despite £398.2m in finance expenses to fund the mega-merger, MFG still emerged from the year with £102.9m in pre-tax profit, down from £144.8m.
The company has continued to ramp up its non-fuel businesses in pursuit of better profitability, including food-to-go concessions. By the end of the year, it had 256 take-away outlets, compared with 213 in 2023 and 147 in 2021.
“The UK market contıinues to move towards convenience,” said a statement signed on behalf of directors by MFG owner and CD&R MD Diana Moraru.
“The trend is for consumers to make more frequent and more focused shopping trips. This change is expected to continue as these consumer behaviours have developed and have become habitual.
“MFG is ideally placed to serve this expanding convenience demand with its nationwide network of nationally recognised brands, Morrisons Daily, Londıs and Budgens,” it said.
Booker Retail Partners will supply MFG’s Budgens and Londis-branded stores until at least 2028. The company has arranged for Morrisons to supply its Morrisons-branded forecourts.
MFG has continued to pursue a strategy of upgrading its shops and food options at forecourts to boost long-term revenues, a strategy aided by its freehold ownership of 81% of its sites. MFG spent £154.2m on capital projects in 2024, down from the £221.6m invested in 2023.
EV charging for future profit
The fuel giant has also been laying plans to capture the emerging EV charging market. While charging represents just 0.4% of the company’s revenue, it is highly profitable, yielding 2% of the company’s gross profit.
Given all new cars are to be fully electric by 2035 under government plans, EV adoption would accelerate rapidly, MFG said.
“As the EV charging business continues to develop, MFG is also looking at non-forecourt opportunities with the aim of providing high-quality charging facilities wherever the consumer demand exists.
“The Morrisons acquisition provides a significant opportunity to expand into the ‘destination’ segment by installıng rapid EV chargers on to the Morrisons superstore car parks, providing further growth potential whilst providing the consumer with additional charging options.”
MFG now has 813 ultra-rapid charging bays, up from 603 in 2023 and 270 in 2022.
MFG CEO William Bannister said the deal with Morrisons was “anchored” on providing EV facilities to create “destination hubs” around forecourt and retail assets.
“We will be there to serve and power our customers, regardless of what car they drive in the years and decades ahead as we play a key role in keeping the country and its economy moving,” he added.
In August 2025, CD&R sold a £500m minority stake in MFG worth a reported 25%-30% of MFG’s equity to institutional investors led by Apollo Hybrid Value.
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