EG Group announces 'resilient performance' following $1.5bn sale of US assets

The results come after earlier this week, the group announced that it had agreed a $1.5 billion deal for the sale and leaseback of its US property in an effort to reduce the firm’s debt. Through the deal, EG Group sold 415 stores in the US to property firm Realty Income. The deal represents a sale of around 15 per cent of EG’s property empire.

Last month, the firm opened its 100th Asda On the Move convenience store. Asda supplies the products on a wholesale basis to EG, which owns and operates each site.

Zuber Issa, CBE co-founder and co-CEO of EG Group, said: “In 2022, we delivered a highly resilient performance despite macro-economic headwinds.

“Management is committed to further significant deleveraging and is actively exploring additional opportunities to put in place a sustainable capital structure for the Group to underpin our long-term strategy.

“We have made progress with our plans and taken the first steps in this process by agreeing a $1.5 billion sale and lease back on a portfolio of sites on the east coast of the USA,

“Looking ahead, we remain confident that EG is well-positioned to continue to outperform the wider market and execute on our strategic objectives. I would also like to thank our colleagues for their dedication, hard work and resilience over the past year.”

EG has agreed the disposal of 26 non-core sites under the Minit Mart banner in the Group’s central USA portfolio for total gross proceeds of $48 million. The firm states this will have no impact on EBITDA of the Group.

The Group’s site network increased to 6,612 sites by the end of last year, of which two thirds are company owned and company operated. This increase was primarily driven by the firm’s completed acquisition from OMV of 285 forecourts in southern Germany in May 2022.

Cash generation for the group also remained strong last year, particularly in the fourth quarter of 2022, when an inflow from net working capital resulted in a cash conversion of 83 per cent for the full year.