Majority shareholder in Applegreen to sell 7.5% of stake

B&J Holdings, a Maltese-registered company that holds a majority stake in forecourt operator Applegreen, is to sell up to 6 million shares at €4.50 per share.

This marks a 4.3 per cent discount to the share price close on Tuesday.

The placing shares represent approximately 7.5 per cent of Applegreen’s current issued share capital.

B&J Holdings is owned by Applgegreen's founders Bob Etchingham and Joe Barratt, who held a 69.4 per cent shareholding in Applegreen following its €91.7 million flotation in June 2015.

The entity acquired the entire share capital of Applegreen in December 2013 from Mr Etchingham and Mr Barrett and became its parent group.

Following the share sell, B&J Holdings will still hold over 48 million shares, representing about 60 per cent of the current share capital.

According to an ISE announcement, Mr Etchingham and Mr Barrett own 75 per cent and 25 per cent of the share capital of B&J respectively.

The placing shares are not being made available to the public.

Earlier this month, Applegreen announced first-half results that were in line with expectations. Revenue for the six months ending June 30th, rose 7.4 per cent to 7.4 per cent to €556 million, as the group’s pretax profit more than doubled to €7.5 million. Adjusted earnings (ebitda) increased by 15 per cent from €11.3 million in the first half of 2015 to €13 million in 2016.

Revenue in the Republic increased by 12.7 per cent and gross profit increased by 20.3 per cent.

Applegreen now operates in 220 locations, with what it recently said was a “strong pipeline” of new sites, particularly in the UK.