CHAIRMAN of the Petrol Retailers Association Brian Madderson has suggested that 2014 may come to be viewed as a “watershed year” for the independent sector.
For the moment, many petrol retailers will still be feeling the squeeze, but Madderson said events in the past 12 months had colluded to create a positive outlook.
“Fuel has come down in price and people are motoring more,” he said. “Secondly, the big stores are really not progressing as they were, so hopefully will see fewer big stores being built out of town.
“There has been the further retreat of oil companies from frontline retailing, with Murco, Esso and Shell all selling retail assets. They will be bought up by the independent sector.
“There’s also the general growth in UK economic performance and, finally, last year the new car market surged to a near-record of 2.54m vehicles. Those are all good points.
“Obviously, it is still tough out there for the smaller guys, but I think 2014 has been a watershed year.”
