Business Growth - Asda buys EG Group

Asda has taken over the UK and Ireland part of EG Group, the petrol retailer, and in doing so has acquired 350 petrol stations and around 1,000 convenience stores.

It will be interesting to see how the Competition and Markets Authority react; an earlier Asda - Sainsburys merger was blocked largely because of fears about the impact on the petrol market. In addition, this deal is largely debt-funded, which concerns some observers of the sector.

The acquisition will create a UK consumer giant with £30bn-worth of revenues a year. Asda is now set to own nearly 1,400 outlets split between a range of supermarkets, petrol stations and convenience stores.

Asda previously acquired 130 petrol sites from Co-op for £611m before selling some off to satisfy the demands of the CMA. In 2021, the EG Group acquired Cooplands, the UK's second largest bakery chain. It is expected that they will remain owners of this.

In related news, here is another reminder that food price inflation is still with us, and keeping inflation high, with coffee and chocolate among those foodstuffs most likely to see increases in price. The overall rate of inflation at grocers is around 9%, and until that starts to drop, then core inflation is going to remain high too.