Applegreen has agreed to sell its UK filling station business to EG On the Move and plans to use the proceeds to invest in its businesses in Ireland, the UK and the US. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The deal encompasses 98 sites and 1,142 employees and is expected to close at the end of the month.

EG On the Move is an operator of petrol stations and convenience stores with more than 80 locations predominantly in the north of England.

It was founded by Zuber Issa and Imraan Patel but is separate to the EG Group, which Issa previously led with brother Mohsin.

All staff are expected to transfer to the new owners as part of the transaction apart from "a very small number" of employees who work in functions where there is overlap with the new owner.

Those employees are either being redeployed or have been offered redundancy in recent weeks by Applegreen.

The sale does not affect Applegreen's Welcome Break business in Britain and Northern Ireland, which employs more than 6,000 people across 59 sites, including 34 motorway service areas and 31 hotels.

“We remain totally committed to our presence and further expansion in the UK market and have significant plans to expand both Welcome Break and our EV charging business there, as part of the €1bn investment plan that we announced late last year,” said Joe Barrett, co-founder and CEO of Applegreen.

“We are growing the Welcome Break business in the UK by developing new-build locations and revamping many of our existing sites.

"We have a strong pipeline of additional UK sites for development on locations adjacent to motorways and alongside a number of major A-roads.

"This week, for example, we will open a new £55m (€66m) state-of-the-art Welcome Break MSA on the M1 near Rotherham."

Applegreen will continue to invest in its petrol filling station business in Ireland and focus on larger, food-focused sites in the UK and US.

The company will also invest €85m in its EV charging business across its three territories over the next five years.

“The roll out of our successful M&S partnership, which is currently in 21 locations, will continue and we are also investing to expand our Braeburn Coffee brand. There will also be further investment in new sites, and upgrades to existing locations," Barrett added.

Applegreen typically invests €25m per year in new store openings, upgrades and improvements in Ireland.

The group made a loss of €83m due in part to depreciation and amortisation while revenues grew to approximately €3.9bn.

Photo: Joe Barrett (left) and Bob Etchingham. (Pic: File)