The chairman of wholesaler The Bestway Group, Sir Anwar Pervez, is reported to have paid £193 million for a 3.45% stake in Sainsbury’s supermarket.

The Bestway Group, founded by Sir Anwar Pervez, OBE H Pk and led by group chief executive The Lord Choudrey CBE, SI Pk 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. 

Bestway Group today has a customer base of over 12 million customers and employs 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.

Sainsbury’s shares climbed 6.6% on the annoucement of the investment.

The growth in Bestway reflects an increase in revenues across all businesses within the Group.

The 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. 

The Group’s portfolio includes the largest independent food wholesaler and largest independent pharmacy chain in the UK, alongside the 2nd largest cement manufacturer and 2nd largest private bank in Pakistan (UBL). In addition, the Group holds significant property investments in both the UK and Pakistan.

Commenting on the Group’s performance, The Lord Choudrey, CEO of Bestway Group, said: “Despite the challenging macro-economic backdrop, all our businesses have shown real resilience and the Group has exhibited both growth and stability. The year ending June 2022 has been an exceptionally volatile environment as the world emerged from the Covid pandemic and grappled with significant inflation”. 

“Despite facing these immense challenges and the subsequent turbulence that we have seen across international markets I am glad that the Group has retained its focus on growth, service and efficiency to support customers during this time”. 

Sir Anwar Pervez, chairman of Bestway Group, commented: “The Group has returned an impressive performance in 2022 and we are confident that our businesses will continue to gain share within their respective markets during 2023. The results are testament to the agility of our business model which will continue to deliver growth in the year ahead.”