Forecourt and convenience retailer Maxol has announced a €100m investment programme as part of the company's new 2023-2027 strategic plan.
Under this new plan, the Irish-owned company plans to acquire a number of new sites next year, which it said could result in the business growing to 250 service stations across Ireland.
The company said this latest investment plan will also be geared towards growing Maxol's non-fuel incomes, with a focus on food and convenience retail.
In light of this, Brian Donaldson, Group CEO of Maxol is calling for the cap on retail space in the forecourt and convenience sector to be removed.
"At the moment our sector has a cap on retail floorspace of 100m² irrespective of location," he explained.
"These retail planning guidelines have not been reviewed since 2012 so they're very much out of date and our sector has changed considerably as we make the move from fuel to food.
"Retail stores in other sectors have much higher caps - in Dublin the cap is at 4,000m² and it’s 3,500m² in the cities of Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford," he added.
Maxol said it aims to extend the number of Burger King drive-thru's in its network from three to nine and will continue to develop its food credentials with more fresh food to go and take-home meal solutions, while offering more high quality, locally sourced and produced goods.
Newly released figures for the company for last year show a profit before exceptional items of €26.9m, an increase of 57% on 2020.
"The trends that emerged during the pandemic certainly provided a 'Covid bounce,'" said Mr Donaldson.
"But it is Maxol’s long-term investment strategy that has been instrumental in driving the company’s performance in 2021 and indeed, the 2022 period to date," he added.
However, Mr Donaldson said he expects 2023 will be a more challenging year for the company.
"Like every other business, we are operating in a highly volatile and unpredictable market and the cost of doing business is rising exponentially," he said.
"Consumer prices are also rising but interestingly, in our sector we have not yet seen any significant contraction in customer spend, which is at odds with current economic indicators," he added.
However, Mr Donaldson said he believes that the real impact will be felt after Christmas.
"People will be more cautious as household budgets become squeezed, which will result in reduced consumer spend at the tills.
"This is where technology can play a role and we are likely to see an uptake in Maxol Loyalty App members seeking out special offers and rewards.
"So we are heading into 2023 with a resilient business model backed by a major investment plan, but with a strong degree of caution knowing that next year is unlikely to mirror the performance seen in 2021/2022," he added.
