The acquisitions of Leon and Cooplands helped sales and profits surge at EG Group during its latest financial year, according to new figures.
The Lancashire-headquartered group, which was founded by the billionaire Issa brothers, has reported a total venue of $26.511bn for the 12 months to December 31, 2021, up from the $21.463bn it achieved during 2020.
Its group EBITDA also increased from $1.451bn to $1.248bn over the same period.
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EG Group acquired Leon in April last year while it also snapped up Cooplands in October.
The group, which also includes Euro Garages, has reported full-year gross profits of $1.348bn for its grocery and merchandise division, up almost 10%, as well as $1.941bn for fuel, up 3.5%.
The standout division however was foodservice which saw its profits almost double from $305m to $609m during the year.
EG Group opened 134 new foodservice outlets in 2021 while a "key strategic alliance" between it and Asda saw 31 new Asda on the Move openings in EG locations in the year.
In a joint statement, co-founders and co-CEOs Zuber and Mohsin Issa said: "This excellent Q4 performance caps a transformational year for EG Group. The star performer for the year was Foodservice ‒ which remains the biggest long-term growth opportunity for the Group ‒ while our grocery and merchandise and fuel businesses also demonstrated their resilience as pandemic-related restrictions continued to ease.
"In foodservice, we not only continued to expand and invest in growing our partnerships with global brands, but we also made important acquisitions of proprietary businesses with the purchase of LEON, the naturally fast-food chain, and Cooplands, the UK’s second biggest bakery operator.
"We look ahead to this current financial year with confidence to build on our strong foundations and growth platform.
"With many of our key geographies easing their Covid-19 guidelines, EG Group is extremely well positioned to deliver further progress and take advantage of the opportunities ahead.
"We would also like to thank all EG colleagues for their incredible, hard work during a testing year."
