Applegreen plc has successfully completed a process to access additional facilities and secure its liquidity for the likely duration of the COVID-19 crisis.
The roadside convenience retailer announced that it has converted €52.5 million of the accordion facility in its existing Applegreen plc banking facilities into its Revolving Credit Facility, which represents an increase to the committed funding available for the remaining term through to October 2023.
Applegreen said that its lenders have also agreed to substantially relax or remove covenant conditions for the tests arising in each quarter up to and including June 2021.
'There have been no other changes to the terms or cost of this multi-currency facility,' the group said in a statement.
In a statement the company acknowledged the Applegreen plc banking group for their 'continued strong support for the group, and the confidence they have demonstrated in it business model during these unprecedented times'.
Welcome Break Estate
Applegreen said that it will continue to work constructively with the lenders of the Welcome Break banking facilities and expects to reach a similar conclusion shortly.
'The Welcome Break estate has been the most heavily impacted by the crisis and, as anticipated in its scenario modelling, has experienced a higher rate of cash burn as the UK emerges from lockdown,' it highlighted.
The company said that it is anticipating a gradual recovery in volumes and are in the process of re-opening some of its food offers to meet that increased demand.
Executive Directors Pay Cut
The group highlighted that it will continue to focus on cost reduction and, in addition to the extensive measures previously announced, the Board has agreed to reduce the base salaries for executive directors by circa 20% from 1 April 2020 for a period of three months.
The company said that it has also implemented graduated salary cost reductions on a temporary basis for support staff across the organisation.
Looking Ahead
'The core Applegreen estate in the Republic of Ireland, UK and US is performing ahead of it original assumptions at the outset of the pandemic, and it expects to be cash positive from June onwards as working capital levels start to rebuild,' it added.
© 2020 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click sign-up to subscribe to Checkout.
