Billionaire Issa brothers’ £2bn Asda deal sees petrol stations empire EG Group surge back to profit
The petrol forecourts empire built by the billionaire Issa brothers, who also own Asda, surged back into the black in 2023 following its £2bn deal with the supermarket giant.
EG Group completed the sale of the majority of its UK and Ireland operations to Asda in October last year, having first announced the deal in May 2023.
Both EG Group and Asda are co-owned by the brothers and their private equity partner, TDR Capital.
The deal saw the Blackburn-headquartered group’s UK&I fuel, foodservice, grocery and merchandise business taken on by Asda.
EG Group will continue to operate in the USA, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium as well as 32 sites in the UK.
Newly-filed accounts with Companies House have now revealed that EG Group reported a $1.4bn (£1.2bn) pre-tax profit for the year, up from a los of $258m ($415.5m) in 2022.
However, with the Asda deal taken out of the figures, EG Group made a pre-tax loss of $125m (£98.3m).
The new accounts also show that EG Group’s revenue fell from $30.6m (£24m) to $28.3m (£22.2m).
In a statement signed off by the board, chairman Lord Stuart Rose said: “Despite challenging macroeconomic conditions and ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, EG continues to play an important role in the global delivery of convenience retail, foodservice and fuel to our millions of customers.
“The USA continues to be a key strategic market for us, offering multiple opportunities to strengthen our core business and drive sustainable growth through the continued delivery of our proven convenience retail, foodservice and fuel offering.
“In Europe, we have a solid existing platform that we can enhance through deeper partnerships and initiatives, such as evpoint.
“As we look to the year ahead, I believe we have the foundations in place on which to build further growth and success across our operations.
“Management’s strong track record of delivering on our strategy underscores my confidence.”