Bestway Group has announced its investment in 80,792,512 shares in Sainbury’s – that’s 3.45% of the issued share capital, worth £193 million.
But the group, which has headquarters in London’s Park Royal, said it will not consider an offer for Sainsbury’s but would think about further market purchases of the chain’s shares from time to time.
Sainsbury’s shares jumped 6.6% when it was revealed that Bestway had taken a stake but the FTSE 100 company said it would engage with Bestway “in line with normal interactions with shareholders”.
Bestway Group has a customer base of over 12 million customers and employs over 28,000 individuals, has operations across the UK, Pakistan and the Middle East and is one of the largest family-owned businesses in the UK with a £4.5 billion turnover.
Founded by Sir Anwar Pervez OBE and led by Group Chief Executive The Lord Choudrey CBE, the group has seen a growth in revenues to year end June 2022, which reached £4.51 billion with operating pre-tax profit of £398.8 million.
The growth reflects an increase in revenues across all businesses within the group, which owns retailer Costcutter, as well as Well Pharmacy and Bestway Wholesale.
A strong performance has been attributed to the group’s agility in responding to fast-changing market conditions and taking necessary measures to reduce the impact of key risks in the business with appropriate policies where possible.
Starting off as a chain of convenience stores in 1963, Bestway is now a diversified multinational business with interests across the wholesale, pharmacy, real estate, cement and banking sectors.
Sainsbury’s has also had a good year with retail sales up more than five per cent at Christmas.
