Peregrine Corporation

The Peregrine Corporation is a South Australian family-owned company which operates the On The Run brand of service stations and convenience stores in South Australia, as well as Smokemart & GiftBox stores nationwide. It was founded in 1984 with the purchase of a service station in Woodville by Fred Shahin.[2] In 2016 it was listed at number 14 in The Australian Financial Review's "Top 500 Private Companies", with an estimated annual revenue of A$1.90b.[3]

Peregrine Corporation
Private
Industry
  • Petrol stations
  • Convenience stores
FounderFred Shahin
Headquarters
Adelaide, South Australia
,
Australia
RevenueA$2.5 billion (2019)
Number of employees
>4200[1] (2019)
Websitewww.peregrine.com.au

Peregrine bought the Mobil fuel outlets in South Australia in 2010 and 25 company-owned BP outlets in 2014.[4] The acquired sites were rebranded and upgraded to 24-hour On The Run sites. The acquisitions and ongoing construction resulted in the company having over 130 sites by 2016.[1]

In 2015 Peregrine announced plans to redevelop the former Mitsubishi Motors Australia test site outside Tailem Bend, South Australia as The Bend Motorsport Park to be opened in 2017.

In May 2017, Peregrine announced that it had purchased Mallala Motor Sport Park.[5]

History

Fathi (Fred) Shahin, a Palestinian, moved with his family to Lebanon during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, when he was ten years old. Shahin went to night school to qualify as an accountant. After working for the United Nations for 27 years, he and his family migrated to Australia. When he couldn't find a job, he bought a service station in Woodville, a suburb of Adelaide, and the family lived on site. The company now owns a chain of 24-hour convenience stores operating under the On The Run brand. Many of the stores operate as fuel outlets, alongside other brands such as Subway, Brumby's Bakeries, Oporto, and Wendy's. As of 2014, the business is run by Fred Shahin's sons Khalil (Charlie), Yasser and Samer (Sam).[2][6]

Controversies

Redevelopment of an On The Run Store dumped 2000 tonnes of contaminated carcinogenic[7] soil in the Adelaide Hills. For this sustained breach of law, fines of $28000 were levied against the operators of Peregrine Corporation and associated business Nasmin Pty Ltd.[8]

In 2018 the On The Run brand of the company received significant criticism from consumers and environmental groups[9][10] for a decision to ban reusable coffee cups, amongst growing concerns of the negative effect of the 1.2 billion disposable cups that end-up in landfill in Australia each year.[11]

A Class Action on behalf of 1,050 On The Run workers was lodged with the Federal Court on Wednesday 13th May 2020. The company stands accused of failing to pay overtime, underpaying staff and misusing its traineeship program as a method to reduce workers' pay dating back to 2014 and involving all stores in South Australia. OTR allegedly used eight different wage minimisation tactics that enabled gross underpayment of its staff. In March 2020, the Federal Court upheld a separate decision by South Australia's Employment Tribunal to award $2,342 to an OTR employee who had been underpaid.[12]

References
  1. "About Us". Peregrine Corporation. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  2. Miles Kemp and Julian Swallow (19 May 2013). "Fortunes of families Trim and Shahin change dramatically". Sunday Mail. Retrieved 24 July 2014.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  3. "AFR Top 500 Private Companies". The Australian Financial Review. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  4. "ACCC will not oppose Peregrine's proposed acquisition of BP petrol station sites in SA". Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. 8 May 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  5. Kemp, Miles (11 May 2017). "SA's No. 1 motorsport fan Sam Shahin plans to improve Mallala Motor Sport Park after buying it". The Advertiser. News Corp. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  6. "BRW Rich 200 list 2014: 102. Yasser Shahin & family". BRW. Fairfax Media. 27 June 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  7. "Carcinogenic Hydrocarbons and Human Cells in Culture". www.nature.com. Retrieved 2020-05-13.
  8. "Judge rules on OTR illegal dumping". www.adelaidenow.com.au. Retrieved 2020-05-13.
  9. "On the Run service station bans reusable coffee cups". www.9news.com.au. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  10. "Major SA coffee seller bans reusable cups — including its own". ABC News. 2018-06-05. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  11. "7-Eleven installs recycling bins for takeaway coffee cups". www.9news.com.au. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  12. "OTR workers bring Federal Class Action Suit". www.abc.net.au. Retrieved 2020-05-13.
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