Fuel and forecourt retailer Applegreen has agreed a deal to sell its UK petrol filling business to EG On The Move, a UK operator of filling stations and convenience stores.

The company said it use the proceeds from the deal to invest in its business in Ireland, the UK and the US.

Applegreen’s UK petrol filling station business has 98 sites and employs 1,142 people.

The company said that all of the staff employed by the business are expected to transfer to the new owners as part of the transaction, apart from a very small number of workers in functions where there is overlap with the new owner.

These employees are either being redeployed or have been offered a redundancy programme. Applegreen said it has been in consultation will all the employees in question in recent weeks.

Applegreen said today’s sale does not affect its Welcome Break business in the UK, which also includes its operations in Northern Ireland, which employs more than 6,000 people at its 59 sites, including 34 Motorway Service Areas (MSAs), and 31 hotels.

“We remain totally committed to our presence and further expansion in the UK market and have significant plans to expand both Welcome Break and our EV charging business there, as part of the €1 billion investment plan that we announced late last year,” Applegreen’s co-founder and chief executive Joe Barrett said.

“We are growing the Welcome Break business in the UK by developing new-build locations and revamping many of our existing sites. We have a strong pipeline of additional UK sites for development on locations adjacent to motorways and alongside a number of major A-roads,” he said.

“This week, for example, we will open a new £55m Welcome Break MSA on the M1 near Rotherham,” he added.

Applegreen, which operates almost 200 locations in Ireland, said it will be continuing to invest in its petrol filling station business in Ireland.

“The roll out of our successful M&S partnership, which is currently in 21 locations, will continue and we are also investing to expand our Braeburn Coffee brand,” Mr Barrett said.

“There will also be further investment in new sites, and upgrades to existing locations,” he added.

In the UK and US, Applegreen is also increasingly focussing on larger sites, with food at the heart of the customer offer.

The company also stated that it will continue to invest heavily in its EV charging business in Ireland, the UK and the US, with an €85m expansion programme planned over the next five years.

The UK UK petrol filling business sale is expected to close at the end of the month.