Bestway Wholesale has seen a 10 percent growth in revenues during 2021 to £2.66 billion – an increase of £220 million, returning an operating pre-tax profit of £37.2 million.
The strong performance has been attributed to the agility of the business in responding fast to changing customer behaviours. Bestway Wholesale remained focused on ensuring operations were as smooth as possible alongside a heightened focus on stock availability to ensure it remained its customers’ partner of choice.
Bestway Wholesale also saw an opportunity to increase its scale and completed on the acquisition of Costcutter Supermarkets Group (CSG) in February 2021.
Dawood Pervez, Managing Director for Bestway Wholesale confirmed that the business had focused on integrating operations and delivering the associated synergy benefits. He commented:
“Aside from Covid-19, market conditions in the wholesale sector remained challenging, with supply chain issues, staff availability and inflationary pressures. We have also had to absorb the continued impact from the National Living Wage increases, as well as additional costs and the uncertainty surrounding Brexit.
“Despite these challenges, we remained committed to our strategic plans of offering improved service and convenience to customers and we continued to improve and manage availability of products during this period which resulted in a positive impact on sales.
“Despite the economic turbulence and challenges faced during 2021, the results are a testament to our strategic approach and operating model which has increasingly positioned us as the home of choice for the entrepreneurial retailer whether affiliated, or unaffiliated, and with a fascia to suit every retailer, regardless of size or location.
“I would like to sincerely thank all of our employees for the dedication and commitment they have shown during a very difficult period”.
Bestway Wholesale is part of the wider Bestway Group, which saw a 10% growth in revenues during 2021, which reached £3.75 billion with operating pre-tax profit of £350 million.
The Group’s portfolio includes Bestway Wholesale, the UK’s largest independent food and drink wholesaler and Well Pharmacy which remains the largest independent retail pharmacy chain in the UK. Additionally, the Group owns the 2nd largest cement manufacturer (Bestway Cement) and 2nd largest private bank in Pakistan (UBL) as well as significant property investments in both the UK and in Pakistan.
The Group’s UK businesses were classified as essential businesses and played a key role during the pandemic in ensuring the UK’s food and medicine supply chain remained stable, with Well Pharmacy operating over 60 COVID vaccination sites.
The Group’s charitable arm, Bestway Foundation remained active in its support of a variety of healthcare and education charities and provided more than £270,000 in grants to students of South Asian origin to attend universities in the UK.
Lord Zameer Choudrey CBE, CEO of Bestway Group commented, “The Group and all of its subsidiaries have shown immense resilience in 2021 and we are confident that we will continue to gain share during 2022”.
Owned by the Pervez, Choudrey and Sheikh families, Bestway Group was founded by Sir Anwar Pervez OBE in 1976, who remains Chairman. Serving over 12 million customers and employing over 28,000 individuals, the Group supports and serves communities through its operations across the UK, Pakistan and the Middle East. Its head offices are based in Park Royal, London.
