EG Group licenses prominent foodservice brands at petrol station forecourts across Europe | Photo credit: EG Group

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EG Group is reaping the rewards of its strong-performing foodservice business, which includes the recently acquired Leon and Cooplands brands.
 
Reporting its third quarter results to September 30, 2021, EG Group said group sales increased 20.4% to £7.2bn ($9.6bn) compared to the same period in 2020. However, EBITDA fell 10.2% to £428m compared to the same period in 2020 due to continued ‘macro-uncertainty’ in some markets, the company said, noting the results were still the group’s second highest quarterly earnings recorded.
 
EG Group’s foodservice business, which includes licensed branches of Starbucks, KFC, Cinnabon and Greggs across the UK and continental Europe, was credited as the main driver of sales growth across the group, with gross profits growing 46% and 36% on a like-for-like basis.
 
The petrol station forecourt operator also hailed the performance of the recently acquired Leon and Cooplands brands.
 
“The start of the Q4 period has been characterised by ongoing macro-uncertainty, with some of our international markets facing renewed lockdown restrictions,” said EG Group Founders and Co-CEOs Zuber and Mohsin Issa.
 
“Nevertheless, our business has demonstrated its resilience during the pandemic period, with customers continuing to make essential journeys, holidaying at home more often and showing increasing demand for food delivery, convenient local shops, click-and-collect, delivery and food-to-go services.”
 
“With the combination of our proprietary brands, Leon and Cooplands, and our strategic partnerships with some of the world’s most popular brands, we are well-placed to make further progress in the final quarter of the year,” the Issa brothers added. 
 
EG Group acquired food-to-go and coffee chain, Leon, which has around 42 company-owned and 29 franchised sites, for around £100m ($139m) in April 2021. It is now in the process of adding Leon stores to its petrol station portfolio, and opened the chain’s first drive-thru location in Leeds in November 2021.
 
In October 2021, EG Group acquired UK bakery chain, Cooplands, which operates around 190 bakery shops alongside 12 café concepts and three large bakery sites that produce its products. EG Group has said it intends to launch the Cooplands brand at petrol station retail locations alongside its current store formats.
 
Founded in 2001, EG Group operates a portfolio of more than 6,000 petrol station sites around the world, including 700 in the UK and Ireland with licensed branches of prominent brands including Starbucks, KFC, Cinnabon and Greggs.