How far can you push something in these spaces that can tell a story maybe in a more clear, but maybe not such an obvious kind of a way? In trying to make a film that materializes and makes music tangible, I think it has to be surreal to kind of capture that energy. Simon Davis: Totally.
We have our imaginations that interact with our present reality. We dream every night. When was the film made? This album predates the pandemic, but for the film, we were coming up with these ideas in the heat of uncertainty around what was going on and also a lot of tension….
Topaz Jones: We were already working on it, but that was kind of becoming the backdrop as we were writing it.
We shot it in August. The world was so unstable and so uncertain that it allowed us the space to take that time to look inward and to really question everything. Related Stories. Topaz Jones Jason Filmore Sondock. Newswire Powered by. Close the menu. Rolling Stone. Log In. To help keep your account secure, please log-in again. You are no longer onsite at your organization. The breakdown of individual interests has never been made public, although Murray, other Topaz managers and Anglo are also known to have stakes in the business.
The disposal of "eight or nine" properties from the company-owned portfolio of 45 sites has provided massive spin-off gains for the group, even if motorists despair at the closure of local stations.
That was a big percentage of what we paid," Murray says with a smile. He is not inclined to gloat, but the "big percentage" in question is 50 per cent.
A couple of other Shell sites are to be sold and others in the Statoil portfolio of more than 30 company-owned sites are also likely to go that way. Topaz is always going to be a serious player in this market going forward.
Murray denies that motorists are starved of fuel as a result of the sell-offs. You have to get out there and turn off the road a little and you'll find them. He also insists that Topaz ploughed much of the Shell money back into the business to fund the Statoil deal. In addition, some of the proceeds of land sales will be used for a new filling station on the city side of the Dublin Port Tunnel and others at Tyrellstown, Carlow, and on the M1 motorway.
The group will also bid for some of 12 National Roads Authority public-private-partnership sites on the national motorway network. As for corporate activity, Murray says Topaz has the potential to refuel the tank for more acquisitions. Further deals in Ireland would not be allowed for competition reasons, but Topaz will examine fuel assets if they come on the market in Britain or further afield in Europe.
It's an option for us if the right set of assets became available. We'd be looking at the big multinationals and where they want to exit a country, like Shell and Statoil did here in Ireland, maybe that's something that would be of interest to us.
For all of that, Murray acknowledges that investors in a group with a private-equity ownership structure are likely to seek an end return on their interest within three or five years.
We haven't sat down and talked about it. Exit avenues include straightforward sale or flotation, but Murray says he'd like "a few more options" to consider.
Whatever happens, the owners will make an assessment of the business at an appropriate moment. I think that the ownership can and does change in business. For the moment, and for some time to come, Murray's concentration is on running the business. He says business was profitable on the bottom line last year and will be again in , but won't specify the profit margin, stating only that it is "a very small percentage". With a projected throughput of 3. To bring the group to this position, Murray spent more than two years in a frantic round of deal-making.
Topaz didn't expect Statoil to come to market last year within three months of the Shell deal closing. Weird But True! Party Animals. Try This! Explore More. Topaz is November's Birthstone Topazes come in a wide range of colors. More to explore! Gemstones Learn about precious and semi-precious gems.
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