Costcutter Supermarkets has secured a new contract to continue to supply Murco, the UK forecourt division of US-based Murphy Oil.
The company now operates 212 Costcutter sites on their petrol forecourts, of which 30 trade as a ‘supermarket’ format, and the remainder as ‘express’ stores.
Murco has been supplied by Costcutter for the past 12 years and the new contract has been agreed to run until June 2012, and is expected to generate a turnover through Costcutter in the region of £100m a year.
Since their original partnership with Costcutter started in 1996, Murco has greatly expanded their UK store estate, most recently towards the end of 2008:
• In September 2008, Murco established its first presence in Scotland with the purchase of seven sites in the West Lothian and Falkirk areas
• In October 2008 it acquired 62 Petrol Express forecourts throughout England and Wales.
Tony Walker, Murco’s general manager for non-fuel, said: “The performance of our shops and their importance to the income of our business has grown rapidly over the past few years.
“Costcutter has worked with us to successfully grow our store numbers from 8 to 212 and we believe this winning formula will continue to work. Throughout 2009, 55 store refurbishments are already planned, with the aim to improve store standards, imagery and consumer choice.”
Costcutter managing director Nick Ivel said: “We are delighted with the outcome of our negotiations with Murco, and that we will continue to work with them to further develop their forecourt stores.”
