partnership, Rachael Hewitt, EGOTM’s chief financial officer, said: “We are delighted to secure these new facilities to support our future growth.”
Mohsin has also been busy, according to the financial pages. He is reported to have launched Boulder Investico, a private investment fund looking to support fast- expanding UK start-ups.
Investments are already said to have been made in second hand clothing platform GoThrift and protein powder company Applied Nutrition.
Blackburn based GoThrift runs an online fashion store where shoppers can buy vintage clothing. Global sports nutrition, health and wellness brand Applied Nutrition has its headquarters in Liverpool and recently floated on the London Stock Exchange.
The establishment of Boulder Investico has been hailed as a “significant boost for UK start-ups”.
Meanwhile, EG Group ended the calendar year revealing further progress in its work to deleverage its finances. And as 2024 came to a close, reports emerged of a potential £13bn US listing of the forecourt giant.
Sources suggested that the business and TDR Capital, its private equity backer, were looking at a possible listing as early as this year with the American market favoured because of the company’s extensive operations there.
The £13bn figure reported is 13 times the group’s annual profits, which last year were £1.1bn.
In early December the group announced further progress with its strategy – refinancing $3.5bn of loans as it looked to unlock investment cash.
In a statement the company said: “These transactions follow strong recent progress with the group’s deleveraging plan, with the group completing a number of non-core asset disposals in the final quarter of 2024 and generating over $400m equivalent of proceeds to repay debt.
“This, coupled with group’s strong performance and improved free cash flow during the year, resulted in Moody’s upgrading the outlook of the business from negative to stable.”
The business grew underlying EBITDA by 10 per cent in the nine months to September 30 2024, driven by earnings growth across all key business streams, and a “notably strong performance” in the USA.
Mohsin said: “I am pleased that we have delivered further progress with our successful
deleveraging and refinancing strategy, which is central to the execution of our strategic objectives.
“The successful repricing will materially reduce our financing costs, enabling us to invest further in the growth of the business.
“This transaction is a vote of confidence in EG Group’s strategy and performance from investors. We thank them for their continued support and look forward to pursuing the opportunities ahead of us.”
And what of Asda, where Mohsin still remains a minority owner and non-executive director?
Times are tough for the group, with a report from research group Kantar showing sales in the 12
Expert View
NAVIGATING THE NEXT 12 MONTHS
By Daniel Fletcher, senior associate Forbes
Over the next 12 months, UK businesses must be strategic in navigating the evolving economic and geopolitical climate, as well as various regulatory changes.
The Budget introduced a rise in the rates of Capital Gains Tax (CGT), as well as changes to business asset disposal relief for the next two tax years.
These increases may incentivise business owners who are considering selling to accelerate plans, before the changes come into effect on April 6, 2025.
As the deadlines for net-zero targets draw nearer, UK businesses face environmental, social and governance (ESG) requirements.
As was published in Labour’s pledge to ‘Make Britain a Clean Energy Superpower’, large firms will be required to disclose their net-zero transition plans.
Furthermore, businesses may choose to align their strategies with the task force on climate-related financial disclosures, to
demonstrate robust ESG strategies.
With this in mind, it is now more important than ever for businesses to seek specialist legal advice in conducting due diligence to ensure potential pitfalls as a result of regulations are identified and addressed.
Lancashire County Council has recognised the US as one of the UK’s largest export partners. Consequently, the result of the 2024 Presidential election may have repercussions on Lancashire businesses.
The plan to increase tariffs on American imports is predicted to see the engineering, manufacturing and machinery sectors affected, with potential impact on Lancashire businesses.
Hopefully, the proposed Lancashire devolution deal can mitigate this by providing funding to support innovative growth in the region. Businesses should therefore be mindful of the implications of tariffs implemented in the new year.
LANCASHIREBUSINES SV
IEW.CO.UK
weeks to December 1 fell to £4.3bn – down 5.6 per cent on the same period a year ago.
The gloomy figures came just weeks after its former chief executive Allan Leighton returned to the business to take over from Stuart Rose as executive chairman.
The 71-year-old told a national newspaper it could take three to five years to revive the supermarket chain’s fortunes.
He said that his first priority was to “restore Asda’s DNA”. The former Co-op and Royal Mail chair has committed three to five years of his time to the task as “it is going to take us that long to get it right”.
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