THE owner of Welcome Break service stations has seen an improvement in sales, despite previously warning that Brexit was impacting the business.
Applegreen, the Dublin-based owner which also runs petrol stations in Ireland and the US, said sales in the six months to June 30 jumped 73% to €1.5 billion euros (£1.33bn) with underlying pre-tax profits up 204% to €58.9 million, thanks to its purchase of Welcome Break last year.
Chief executive Bob Etchingham said: "Post period end, the key summer period demonstrated the resilience of Welcome Break, trading satisfactorily despite the uncertain political and macro-economic conditions."
A London-listed renewable energy investment vehicle has spent €64 million (£56.4m) on five combined heat and power plants, two olive processing plants and two biomass sites in Spain.
SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust said part of the heat generated is sold to the olive sites, then the waste from the olives is used for the biomass plants, generating around 25MW (two megawatts) of electricity.
The deal is the fourth by the business since its launch on the stock market in December and the first in continental Europe.
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