Bestway reports increase in revenue and EBITDA

Bestway Wholesale’s revenues grew by 1.4% and EBITDA by 81.8% in the trading year to June 2020.

The figures were revealed in the latest annual report and showed percentage rises compared to the same period that ended in 2019.

Those increases were achieved despite the catastrophic impact Covid-19 had on the catering industry in the final quarter – although this may have been tempered by the boom in convenience retail at the time.

Managing Director Dawood Pervez emphasised the importance of focusing on the integration of Bestway Retail into the business and passing on the associated scale benefits to retailers.

“It’s all about the customer and meeting their needs,” said Pervez.

“The year to end June 2020 saw new challenges with pressure from the grocery sector continuing with major supermarkets such as Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsburys entering the wholesale market.

“As a sector, we also had to absorb the continued impact of the National Living Wage as well as the additional costs and associated uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and Brexit.

“Our commitment to delivering improved service and convenience to customers proved to be the right approach.  The continued focus and investment in the supply chain (and the business as a whole), has helped us offer better service levels alongside a growing emphasis on our online and digital strategies, which have been a catalyst in meeting the needs and changing behaviours of both our customers and the end consumer.”

Bestway’s share of the convenience market was added to in February 2021 – outside of the timeframe of this latest report – with the acquisition of Costcutter.

And while the true impact of that may not be seen for a while, it’s Bestway’s reaction to the Covid-19 crisis that Pervez says shows the business’s strengths.

“Throughout the onset of Covid in 2020, we moved with agility and spent significant time and resource in ensuring all sites were robust from a health and safety perspective.  This was a key priority to ensure protection for both our team here at Bestway, and our customers – whether in depot or for delivered services.

“We continued to improve and manage availability of products during this period which resulted positively on sales and during the year we continued to help our customers increase their margins and profitability. We have also continued to champion the interests of independent retailers – as has been our heritage for 45 years now.”

“Importantly, I would like to thank everyone in the Bestway Wholesale team for their exceptional and extraordinary commitment over this incredibly challenging year, which has made these results possible.”

annual results Bestway Bestway Wholesale coronavirus Costcutter covid-19 Dawood Pervez retail