Corrib Oil planning to expand in Munster

PRETAX PROFITS at the Galway-based Corrib Oil forecourt group were flat last year in spite of its revenues rising by 14 per cent to €223.2 million.

Corrib Oil chief executive Eugene Dalton told The Irish Times that this performance was “considered satisfactory when the difficult market conditions are taken into account”.

Corrib Oil is one of the largest fuel distributors and forecourt retailers in the west of Ireland.

Mr Dalton said yesterday that the group expected to expand in Munster this year with the creation of 50 jobs.

The company’s 2010 accounts have yet to be filed, but Mr Dalton said its pretax profits remained flat on the figure of €294,225 recorded in 2009.

Corrib Oil was established in 1987 with two oil depots in Claremorris, Co Mayo, and Tuam Road, Galway. It initially employed five staff. Today the group employs 427 people, and operates 17 oil depots and 15 service stations.

According to Mr Dalton, the increase in revenues last year was due mainly to rising oil prices globally. The price of heating oil rose by 27 per cent in 2010, with transport fuel prices increasing by 14 per cent and this included the carbon tax increase introduced in May 2010.

Mr Dalton said “gross profit fell [last year] by 6 per cent as a result of tighter margins caused by increasing oil prices”.

The company’s retail sales increased by 4.5 per cent in 2010. “This considerably outperformed the market,” Mr Dalton said.

Corrib Oil is planning to redevelop its service station in Ballinasloe. “This will create 40 jobs during construction phase and an ongoing 30 jobs once it opens in the last quarter of 2011,” Mr Dalton said.