DCC agrees to acquire French unmanned network

RNS Number : 2068Q

DCC PLC

28 August 2014

 



28 August 2014

DCC Energy agrees to acquire Esso SAF's unmanned and motorway retail petrol station network in France

DCC plc, the international sales, marketing, distribution and business support services group, has reached agreement in principle with Esso Société Anonyme Française ("Esso SAF") to acquire the assets that comprise the Esso Express unmanned retail petrol station network and the Esso Motorway concessions in France. Completion of the acquisition is subject to, inter alia, the conclusion of the French Works Council consultation process and EC competition clearance. The transaction is expected to complete in the first half of calendar 2015 after the relevant clearances have been received and the implementation of an IT and operational infrastructure.

The total consideration will be €106 million (£84 million), plus stock in tank at the date of acquisition, all payable in cash on completion.

This will be DCC Energy's second major acquisition in the European unmanned retail petrol station market following the acquisition of Qstar in Sweden in May 2014 and is a further step in the execution of DCC's strategy to build a larger presence in the transport fuels sector.

The acquisition will comprise: Esso SAF's network of 274 Esso Express unmanned petrol stations ("Esso Express"); 48 Esso branded motorway concessions ("Motorway Sites"); and contracts to supply c. 75 Dealer Owned Dealer Operated sites (together "Esso SAF Retail"). As part of the transaction, DCC Energy will enter into a long term branded supply agreeement with Esso SAF.

Esso SAF was the pioneer of the unmanned format for retail petrol stations in France when it converted its full service network to the Express format c. 15 years ago. Esso Express (and the related dealer supply business) sells c. 1.7 billion litres of fuel. The Motorway Sites comprise 48 full service petrol stations selling c. 230 million litres of fuel located on motorways across France. These sites are operated under concession contracts for fixed periods which are subject to a public re-tendering process at the expiry of each concession. The management of the retail operations on the Motorway Sites is outsourced to one of the world's leading operators in the contract catering and support services industry.

The acquired business will have annual volumes of approximately 1.9 billion litres, revenues of approximately €2.2 billion (£1.7 billion) and is expected to generate an initial return on invested capital of approximately 15%.

On completion of the acquisition, DCC Energy will operate 672 retail service stations across Europe and supply in excess of 2,000 dealer owned service stations. On a pro-forma basis, DCC Energy's product split by volume will be 58% road transport fuels, 16% commercial fuels, 16% heating oil and 10% LPG.  

Tommy Breen, Chief Executive of DCC plc, said today:

"The acquisition of Esso SAF Retail will be DCC Energy's first acquisition in France and the second major acquisition in the European retail petrol station market following the acquisition of Qstar announced in February 2014. It represents a significant further step in DCC's strategy to build a larger presence in the transport fuels sector and provides DCC with an excellent platform for growth in the French market."

For Reference:

Tommy Breen, Chief Executive, DCC plc

Donal Murphy, Managing Director, DCC Energy

Stephen Casey, Investor Relations Manager

Telephone: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

Web: www.dcc.ie

Media Enquiries

Powerscourt - Matthew Fletcher / Lisa Kavanagh

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Email: [e-mail]

 

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