Fuelforce, one of the UK’s largest independent forecourt operators, looks poised to exit retailing after selling the bulk of its remaining estate in a deal worth £50m.
Speculation that Fuelforce was looking for a way out was already rife after the chain - number 13 in The Grocer’s last Top 50 table of independent retailers with 165 stores and sales of £68.9m - sold more than 100 outlets in the spring.
Now most of its remaining estate, scattered across England and Scotland, has been bought by a consortium of businesses and entrepreneurs.
The buyers include private investors, Bank of Scotland Corporate, venture capitalist Joint Ventures and Paradigm Real Estate Managers.
Solicitors Maclay Murray & Spens acted for it and said Fuelforce still retained some stores, but declined to reveal how many.
Ray Holloway, director of the Petrol Retailers Association, attributed Fuelforce’s decline to its retail development strategy.
He said its decision to lease out stores under franchise had diluted their value, while the cost of building its retail portfolio plus subsequent lack of investment could have hit performance. Location of sites may have been another damaging factor, said Holloway.
He added that the deal could benefit some independents. “Individuals operating four or five forecourts have a great opportunity to buy sites.”
Separately, 14 more forecourt stores are to adopt the Londis fascia after Texaco sold them to Global Natural Energy, the parent company of Londis member Petrol Express.
Rod Addy
n jonker fris sale Premier Foods is selling its own label canned fruit and veg business Jonker Fris to Dutch private equity firm NPM Capital. Jonker Fris supplies customers in the Netherlands and Germany. n kraft blow Kraft Foods’ third-quarter profit fell 11.1% to $674m as a result of higher commodity and energy costs. Meanwhile, changes to its organisational structure in North America will result in 600 jobs being lost. n Danone up Sales at French food group Danone rose 4.2% to 19.853bn in its nine-month results, boosted by strong sales of bottled water. n bottom line US grocery chain Food Lion, which is owned by Belgium’s Delhaize, is testing a discount superstore format called Bottom Dollar in North Carolina. Food Lion has opened three pilot stores, which range from 2,300 sq m to 2,800 sq m and offer 6,500 product lines. n safeway slump US group Safeway’s third-quarter profit fell from $159.2m to $122.5m as a result of a $54.7m charge linked to the restructuring of its operations in Texas. Sales rose 7.3% to £8.95bn. n latin success French retailer Carrefour’s third quarter like-for-likes rose 13% to 1391m in Argentina. Sales in Colombia rose 22% to 1159m, and the retailer said that it would build at least five new hypermarkets and improve its supply chain next year. However, its like-for-likes in Brazil fell 1.5%. n rfid rolls Wal-Mart expects an extra 200 of its US suppliers to be using RFID by January 2006, in addition to the 100 suppliers already using it.
Speculation that Fuelforce was looking for a way out was already rife after the chain - number 13 in The Grocer’s last Top 50 table of independent retailers with 165 stores and sales of £68.9m - sold more than 100 outlets in the spring.
Now most of its remaining estate, scattered across England and Scotland, has been bought by a consortium of businesses and entrepreneurs.
The buyers include private investors, Bank of Scotland Corporate, venture capitalist Joint Ventures and Paradigm Real Estate Managers.
Solicitors Maclay Murray & Spens acted for it and said Fuelforce still retained some stores, but declined to reveal how many.
Ray Holloway, director of the Petrol Retailers Association, attributed Fuelforce’s decline to its retail development strategy.
He said its decision to lease out stores under franchise had diluted their value, while the cost of building its retail portfolio plus subsequent lack of investment could have hit performance. Location of sites may have been another damaging factor, said Holloway.
He added that the deal could benefit some independents. “Individuals operating four or five forecourts have a great opportunity to buy sites.”
Separately, 14 more forecourt stores are to adopt the Londis fascia after Texaco sold them to Global Natural Energy, the parent company of Londis member Petrol Express.
Rod Addy
n jonker fris sale Premier Foods is selling its own label canned fruit and veg business Jonker Fris to Dutch private equity firm NPM Capital. Jonker Fris supplies customers in the Netherlands and Germany. n kraft blow Kraft Foods’ third-quarter profit fell 11.1% to $674m as a result of higher commodity and energy costs. Meanwhile, changes to its organisational structure in North America will result in 600 jobs being lost. n Danone up Sales at French food group Danone rose 4.2% to 19.853bn in its nine-month results, boosted by strong sales of bottled water. n bottom line US grocery chain Food Lion, which is owned by Belgium’s Delhaize, is testing a discount superstore format called Bottom Dollar in North Carolina. Food Lion has opened three pilot stores, which range from 2,300 sq m to 2,800 sq m and offer 6,500 product lines. n safeway slump US group Safeway’s third-quarter profit fell from $159.2m to $122.5m as a result of a $54.7m charge linked to the restructuring of its operations in Texas. Sales rose 7.3% to £8.95bn. n latin success French retailer Carrefour’s third quarter like-for-likes rose 13% to 1391m in Argentina. Sales in Colombia rose 22% to 1159m, and the retailer said that it would build at least five new hypermarkets and improve its supply chain next year. However, its like-for-likes in Brazil fell 1.5%. n rfid rolls Wal-Mart expects an extra 200 of its US suppliers to be using RFID by January 2006, in addition to the 100 suppliers already using it.
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