Applegreen Share Discussion Threads

[cafno] 11/12/2020 12:16

djderry is right. Bob & Joe want to keep their jobs and take their company back. They've never been in this for delivering value to shareholders, neither do they like the public accountability and scrutiny of the company's management and operations that being a plc brings. If the deal goes through, APGN can draw a veil over the financial, operational and environmental risks it wants to hide. I hope the VCs have done their due diligence thoroughly.

[energeticbacker] 11/12/2020 09:46

Investor's Champion comments: With net debt of €550m at 30 June, representing net gearing of 350% the balance sheet has always looked a bit scary to us, despite the c€68m of free cash flow generated in the six months to June 2019. However, a good dollop of debt has never been a problem for private equity.

[ny boy] 10/12/2020 22:34

Could be another late bidder to throw their hat in the ring?

[djderry] 10/12/2020 10:56

Not happy.This company is worth at least €6.50.In my view this is a backdoor take private manoeuvre.The 'float' is many millions and acts like a tax free loan ,as 'Wexboy' pointed out.For all the years invested here,I would have expected a much greater return.

[cafno] 10/12/2020 10:29

Lots of people heading for the exit today. The offer is not surprising really. This has always been a company that likes to avoid scrutiny - by shareholders, by markets, by regulators. I think I'll be taking a profit, but I fear for what will go on behind closed doors if the company is taken private. The environmental credentials and activities of businesses like this need to be scrutinised very carefully and APGN doesn't have a good track record in that department.

[scepticalinvestor] 10/12/2020 09:38

out at 500ponly had a few 1000 shares but all helps!

[scepticalinvestor] 10/12/2020 07:24

inevitable i guess - knew i should have bought more though

[energeticbacker] 18/9/2020 11:38

Featured in Investor's Champion's update today "It is very hard to gauge whether that is a bargain or classic value trap, but I’m not sure many would consider a highly geared operator of petrol forecourts and motorway service areas to be a high growth investment opportunity!"

[cafno] 18/9/2020 09:30

djderry, I think we agree that the Welcome Break purchase was a good entry strategy for the UK MSA market. My use of the term 'vanity project' was to describe the previous strategy of trying to build four new MSAs from scratch on really poor sites that other operators wouldn't touch, in a vain attempt to compete with Moto. As you say, this would take decades and is, in my opinion, a poor use of shareholders' capital. Yet despite COVID, APGN's management is unwilling to knock these projects/sites on the head to save money. The company obtained planning permission for a new MSA at Rotherham last November, but there is no sign of this being built-out and I doubt the company can afford to do so. The same week, APGN was refused planning permission for the proposed Vale of York MSA, yet management is now pursuing a planning appeal that is due to go to a (very expensive) Public Inquiry at some point. Buy not build should be the UK MSA growth strategy.

[djderry] 18/9/2020 06:22

The business continues to recover.

[djderry] 29/8/2020 23:35

I disagree with your use of the term 'vanity' project.If you are an investor then you should know why you've invested.The 'Welcome' purchase made perfect sense to me on every metric.If they were to seek to build from scratch,it would have taken decades and,on many motorways there are by-laws which would prevent them ever building.So they have bought the MSA UK business in one fell swoop.

[cafno] 29/8/2020 20:07

'Growing the business' is not a strategy. It is the raison d'etre of the Board and their duty to shareholders. HOW to grow the business in a challenging global marketplace - now that needs a well thought-out strategy. It's been clear to me for a long time that buying into the UK MSA market would be a better strategy for APGN than trying to build new MSAs from scratch on the 'leftover' sites other more experienced operators don't want. How much the company has spent on these vanity projects in its efforts to compete with Moto 'because they are #1' might be a good question for the AGM. In the current climate, I'm not sure APGN has the capital to be able to afford its development pipeline.

[djderry] 29/8/2020 18:47

Well there is a pandemic going on.Growing the business in the UK and the US has been a core strategy.Of course no one saw a global virus shutting down entire economies overnight.There was nothing vain about pursuing a growth policy where the petrol pump attracted customers into the rest of the retail food/beverage business.I'm still positive about this company.In the post-covid world people will still travel.

[cafno] 29/8/2020 12:10

APGN's delayed shareholder AGM is to be held on 1st September, in closed session, so shareholders can't attend. Can't help feeling they want to avoid scrutiny of their business operations. They could at least have done a Zoom meeting. It's the 21st century!

[cafno] 13/6/2020 15:47

Anyone know what APGN are doing about a shareholder AGM this year? Usually in May.

[cafno] 13/5/2020 13:19

The positive spin to try and change market sentiment appears to have been started today, with APGN placing articles in the friendly press. Actions speak louder than words. Management could rebuild working capital faster if they canned some of the expensive vanity projects in the 'development' pipeline and focused instead on the core business proposition.

[someuwin] 10/5/2020 16:06

The pumps are running dry at Applegreen

Sabah Meddings

Sunday May 10 2020, 12.01am, The Sunday Times

[cafno] 10/5/2020 14:58

Diesel isn't exactly expensive to buy in bulk at the moment either. Applegreen seems to have over-reached itself with investment in expansion projects in the US and UK and has taken it's eye off the ball of good customer service. AGM should be interesting.

[ellemaitch] 10/5/2020 14:38

site near us hasnt had diesel for 4 days - there are no supply issues within the industry

[sh1984] 07/4/2020 14:00

Yeah maybe, give him a call.
On the positive, the markets are generally up today with a lot of countries looking to ease restrictions and get back to some form of normality. Expecting a rise on this soon.

[cafno] 03/4/2020 10:22

Thanks sh1984. Perhaps he'll tell me why APGN are still p*ssing shareholders money up the wall on hiding-to-nothing projects like this one...

hxxps://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/politics/final-showdown-bid-stop-motorway-services-2523226

[sh1984] 31/3/2020 08:30

Give him a call, he is usually very receptive based on my experience. Anyway best of luck with whatever you decide.

I visited there store a yesterday and they were open and very busy.

[cafno] 27/3/2020 22:06

Yup, I stayed invested in both because I believed in Jobs and Bezos and their strategies (and did very well).
My feelings for Etchingham and APGN are not comparable.

[sh1984] 27/3/2020 20:14

During 2008/2009 crisis, Apple $AAPL dropped from $28 to $12 and Amazon $AMZN from $90 to $40.
Turned out okay