DCC chief executive Donal Murphy: `Diversity has led to consistency within our earnings.' Photograph: Nick BradshawDonal Murphy trots down the steps of the curved staircase in the reception area of DCC’s headquarters beside Leopardstown racetrack in south Dublin with a broad smile and positive vibe.It’s a day after the S&P 500 officially moved into bear territory and the large screen inside the front door shows DCC’s share price being down 2.3 per cent.
Among this broad mix, it operates 1,150 service stations worldwide, including about 40 Certa forecourts in Ireland that were taken over from Tesco. It also owns the Flogas business here, which supplies energy to homes and businesses around the country. And it is the biggest forecourt retailer in Norway.
“Inflation, war, supply-chain disruptions, labour availability. You put that cocktail together and it makes the backdrop very difficult,” says Murphy. “We grew out profits 15 per cent last year on an underlying basis through all of that challenge. The operational performance of this group through the Covid pandemic and through the past 12 months has been astonishing in many ways.
“In some respects, the nature of the business and the shape of our balance sheet, there’s probably more opportunities for us in terms of accelerating growth while other companies may not have the capital to go and do things and buy things.” The traditional business model for its service stations is also under threat as we transition away from petrol and diesel to electric vehicles. Murphy sees many positives in this switch, including increased profitability and the potential to redevelop some stations in urban areas by adding housing and offices.“Our investments in EV infrastructure are generating good returns on the capital we are deploying. The average fuel fill takes three minutes.
They could also become a property play in certain areas, particularly its 550 stations in urban areas. “We are looking at repurposing some of our sites in the centre of Oslo and in the centre of Paris in locations where we have a petrol station and apartments on either side. You can’t do that with petrol and diesel tanks underneath. But you can in an EV world.
Murphy grew up in Ballsbridge. His father was a glass designer. “If you go around the pubs of Dublin and see the fancy old mirrors, he did a lot of them.” His mother, now 92, had to leave the Civil Service when she married.He attended Marian College and later UCD, where he did a commerce degree. But he had his heart set on a different career. “My aspiration at the time was to be a professional cyclist. I was big into cycling and raced for Ireland in the 1980s.