NEWS 6 Transact signs prepaid agreement with Aral Transact, a subsidery of Euronet, will be the technical partner providing electronic top-up (e-top-up) solutions <strong>for</strong> prepaid mobile airtime and other predetermined prepaid products at Aral company-owned and franchised <strong>stations</strong> in Germany The agreement with Aral is a significant win <strong>for</strong> Euronet in the <strong>petrol</strong>-retail channel and underlines its strong national and international position. Initially, Transact expects to be fully operational at approximately 1 450 Aral company-owned <strong>petrol</strong> <strong>stations</strong> by the end of the second quarter 2008. “At Aral, we aim to provide everything our customers would need when they are on the road, in addition to fuel and lubricants. Our partnership with Transact enables us to provide a wide-range of popular prepaid communication and entertainment products to our customers through Transact’s convenient and secure e-top-up system, whenever and wherever they might be travelling in Germany,” said Nicola Butterwegge, Aral head of CM Non Food. Aral, owned by BP, is the leading fuel brand marketer in Germany. It has the largest network of <strong>petrol</strong> <strong>stations</strong> in Germany with approximately 2 400 locations, of which 1 450 are company-owned and the remaining are independently franchised. According to company sources, approximately 40 percent of the nearly 600 million annual Aral customers stop by just to shop in their sleekly designed retail spaces, which stock a range of convenience items and Aral branded motor oils, along with coffee and food. “We are very Istobal and Gough Brothers awarded car wash contract <strong>for</strong> Topaz Istobal have announced that their Irish distributors, Gough Brothers, have been awarded the tender <strong>for</strong> the supply and maintenance of carwash and service island equipment by Topaz Energy limited. It is claimed by Istobal, to be the largest tender in Ireland‘s car washing history and represents a major investment in this sector by Topaz Energy. Gough Brothers have been the exclusive distributors <strong>for</strong> IstobaI in Ireland <strong>for</strong> the last 15 years and have been in existence <strong>for</strong> over 50 years.Topaz Energy, with 300 sites are in the process of re-branding from Statoil and Shell, to the new and eagerly awaited Topaz brand. A quote from Istobal says “Topaz has a vast wealth of knowledge in the oil company business, through having some of the most familiar names in the industry at the helm. They are a young and vibrant company with aggressive growth plans <strong>for</strong> the service sta- pleased Aral has selected us exclusively to offer our e-top-up services <strong>for</strong> prepaid products at their <strong>petrol</strong> <strong>stations</strong> across Germany,” said Michael J. Brown, Euronet chairman and CEO. “The demand <strong>for</strong> prepaid telecom and other prepaid products at retail locations continues to increase every day. As the leading processor of prepaid mobile airtime, we are delivering within a short period of time tion industry in Ireland.Istobal are extremely delighted and proud to be associated with Topaz Energy and Gough Brothers“. Frank Gleeson, Retail Director of Topaz Group commented “We selected Istobal and Gough Brothers as our Car Wash and Service island suppliers because they demonstrated that they were progressive and that they have the ability to deliver on innovation, product and service quality. Malta excluded from EU’s energy saving campaign Malta has been left out of an EU-wide campaign promoting energy efficient driving habits by the European Commission and the European Petroleum Industry Association (Europia). The campaign, which begins this month, includes every European Union Member State, except Malta, as well as three non-EU member States – Croatia, Switzerland and Norway. While the campaign is no more than an awareness-raising campaign, it would be considered as a fundamental step toward combating an lATEST NEWS, EvENTS, JoBS oNlINE – WWW.PETRolPlAzA.CoM customized e-top-up solutions to retailers in the supermarket, convenience stores, <strong>petrol</strong> <strong>stations</strong>, grocery, drug store and lottery channels enabling them to expand their prepaid offerings and stay competitive.” About Euronet Worldwide Euronet Worldwide is an industry leader in processing secure electronic financial transactions. The Company offers payment and transaction processing solutions to financial institutions, mobile operators and retailers which include comprehensive ATM, POS and Card outsourcing services; card issuing and merchant acquiring services; software solutions; consumer money transfer and bill payment services; electronic distribution <strong>for</strong> prepaid mobile airtime and other prepaid products. Euronet operates and processes transactions from 42 countries. Euronet’s global payment network is extensive – including 11 917 ATMs and approximately 51 000 EFT POS terminals which are under management in 20 countries; a growing portfolio of outsourced debit and credit card services and card software solutions; a prepaid processing network of 394 000 point-of-sale terminals across approximately 193 000 retailer locations in 14 countries and a consumer-to-consumer money transfer network of more than 68 000 locations serving approximately 100 countries. With corporate headquarters in Leawood, Kansas, USA, and 32 worldwide offices, Euronet serves clients in 130 countries. area of concern to Malta’s overall greenhouse gas emissions, and in reaching the EU-imposed target of reducing individual member States’ emissions by 20 percent by 2020. During the election campaign Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had stressed time and time again that Malta faces particular challenges in sustainable development and the environment, not least because Malta has the EU’s highest vehicle density level. The EU’s number two spot is occupied by Holland, which has a vehicle density level five times lower than Malta’s. The campaign will see over 45 000 <strong>petrol</strong> <strong>stations</strong> across Europe participating in the campaign, distributing millions of leaflets on fuel efficiency and environmentally responsible driving behaviour. Enemalta – Malta’s <strong>petrol</strong> distributor – is not a member of the EC’s partner organisation – Europia, nor the latter’s cooperating partner in the campaign, the National Oil Industry Associations. Both organisations represent private oil and fuel companies, but given Enemalta’s lasting monopoly in the sector means no such companies currently operate in Malta’s <strong>petrol</strong> market.
lATEST NEWS, EvENTS, JoBS oNlINE – WWW.PETRolPlAzA.CoM NEWS 7