Ireland: Independent Retailer Great Gas Plans Expansion

From a standing start in February 2006,GreatGas now supplies petrol, diesel and oil products to 52 stations around the country, and is on track to break the 100 mark within three years. According to RayO’Sullivan, who heads up the business, at least two stations are joining the GreatGas network each month. Last month, the company exceeded its target and signed up four outlets in deals that will generate €10 million in annual revenues for the fuel supplier.

Half of the 52 service stations have opted to be fully rebranded, and are trading under the GreatGas franchise. Drive for more than an hour in provincial Ireland, and O’Sullivan reckons you will see the bright green and gold signage of a GreatGas station.

No forecourt is under an obligation to carry the GreatGas logo and the company is happy to supply independent garages. However, O’Sullivan will be giving the hard sell over the coming years in an effort to bump up the number of stations trading under the brand.

‘‘We are now as far north as Donegal and down to Castletownbere - from Mizen Head to Malin Head,” O’Sullivan said. ‘‘By 2012, we want to have signed up 100 service stations, and to have 60 or 70 of them branded with GreatGas. If we keep going at the rate we are going, it is very achievable.”

GreatGas recorded a slender profit last year - the company’s first full 12 months in operation - and O’Sullivan expects it to make a more substantial profit this year. The firm’s turnover will be between €60 million and €70 million this year, and that figure is expected to top €100million next year.

The company’s rapid expansion has had its drawbacks, however. After operating largely beneath the radar for the first two years, O’Sullivan said the company’s larger rivals were now monitoring its progress.

The company reported Esso Ireland to the Competition Authority after Esso attempted to stop it from supplying its prices to Esso customers. The multinational firm had threatened GreatGas with legal action if it did not stop communicating its prices to Esso-contracted petrol stations. Esso dropped its threat, but the dispute showed the firm’s growing presence in the market.

‘‘At the start, we had a low profile and we picked up the first ten stations very quickly,” O’Sullivan said. ‘‘Then the fightback came, and now they take us much more seriously. It is becoming harder, but we have a lot more credibility now. ‘‘We are adding two a month with a good pipeline. People know we are players. We are now taken seriously by the industry.”

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