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2004 RETAIL MARKETING SURVEY
Press Release 18 March 2004
Over sixteen forecourt closures a week in 2003
The latest UK Retail Marketing Survey shows that in 2003 UK forecourt closures totalled 890, or 66 sites per month. Closures were, however, effectively confined to the oil company and main retailer sectors. Petroleum Review's UK Retail Marketing Survey is published annually by the Energy Institute, successor to the Institute of Petroleum, and provides a comprehensive, statistical overview of the UK forecourt market. Data is broken down by company, region and forecourt facilities. The survey is based on statistics relating to end-2003 and does not reflect changes since that date.
The key findings of the 2004 survey are:
- There were 10,535 operational filling stations in the UK and Northern Ireland at end-December 2003.
- The number of sites declined by 890 in 2003 - a closure rate of over 16 a week, up from 15 a week in 2002.
- Different sectors showed very different responses:
- oil company sites declined by 541 to 6,941 (down 612 to 7,482 in 2002);
- main retailer sites declined by 78 to 1,231 (down 415 to 1,646 in 2002);
- supermarket sites increased by 59 to 1,126 (up 49 to 1,084 in 2002);
- smaller retailer sites declined by 43 to 168 (up 15 to 130 in 2002);
- other unbranded sites declined by 12 to 1,069 (up 213 to 1,081 in 2002).
- There were 708 quick-serve restaurants attached to forecourts (Little Chef, McDonalds etc), an increase of 36 on the year.
- Average site throughput, at 2.183mn litres/year was slightly below last year's record level.
- There are currently 7,829 self-service forecourts in the UK.
- 41.3% of sites are company-owned and branded, a decline of 3.6% on 2002.
- The number of small, unbranded forecourts fell by 12 to 1,069.
- 609 sites now retail auto-LPG (174 more than in 2002), the largest operators are Shell with 197 and BP with 167.
- 63 sites were retailing biodiesel at the end of 2003, a figure that will rise to 165 by 2005.
- 2,499 sites retailed the high-octane super unleaded grade of gasoline at end-2003, 833 more than in 2002.
- The four largest oil company operations by number of branded forecourts were (year earlier levels in brackets):
|
Esso |
1,215 (1,295) |
Down 80 |
|
BP |
1,262 (1,247) |
Up 15 |
|
Shell |
1,098 (1,159) |
Down 61 |
|
Texaco |
1,163 (1,337) |
Down 174 |
- Taxation of retail motor fuels was running at 48.82 pence/litre on petrol and 53.27 pence/litre on diesel at end-2003, VAT remained unchanged at 17.5%.
- UK gasoline sales continued to decline in 2003 and we are now 17.76% lower than in 1994.
- UK derv sales declined slightly in 2003 and are now at a volume equivalent to 92% of the petrol sales.
- Total UK motor fuels sales have declined to 36.05mn tonnes, down from 37.6mn tonnes in 2002.
Further details are available to the press:
T: +44 (0)20 746 7117/8; F: +44 (0)20 7637 0086; e:petrev@energyinst.org.uk
The 2004 Retail Marketing Survey is available, priced £45, from:
Portland Press Ltd, Commerce Way, Whitehall Industrial Estate,
Colchester CO2 8HP, UK
T: +44 (0)1206 796351; F: +44 (0)1206 799331; e:sales@portlandpress.co.uk
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