ONE of Newry's most successful family-owned small businesses is going from strength to strengthen, its latest accounts show.
Fiveways Shop and Service Station Ltd, which has been run for more than three decades by Colm Meehan (75) and his wife Brea, has reported another 9.7 per cent rise in revenues.
Sales in the year to April 30 2022 rose from £23.7 million to just shy of £26 million, which the company attributed to the growing food-to-go market and increases in fuel consumption following the lifting of Covid restrictions.
Gross profit rose to £6.1m, and on a bottom-line basis, Fiveways retained £1.8m compared to £1.5m a year earlier.
“The sound management practices of the company ensured the profit margin was maintained, and we are satisfied with the performance of the company,” the directors said in a strategic report with the filed accounts.
The Meehans - whose equity has now grown to £20.4 million - say they are “encouraged” by the results over the year.
They added: “The company has continued with a strategy to implement improvements in buying, overheads cost savings, and reacting quickly to customer trends, which has allowed us to maintain a good gross profit margin of 23.23 per cent in 2022. Customer service will, of course, remain the top priority of the company.”
The multi award-winning Fiveways business, based where the Armagh Road branches off to Belfast, Portadown and Dublin, primarily comprises a petrol forecourt, convenience store and off-licence.
But in recent years it has grown to include a barber’s shop, pharmacy, pet food store, hair and beauty salon, bridal store and a popular American-style diner.
The business currently employs 192 staff (up from 187 the year before), and it has an annual wages bill of more than £2.7 million.
Fiveways, which operates under the Nisa symbol, has collected an array of industry awards over the years and has been cited as “an exemplar of independent retailing”.
