Dive Brief:
- EG Group is moving its global headquarters from Blackburn, England, to Charlotte, North Carolina, the company announced in its second-quarter trading report on Wednesday.
- The convenience retailer’s new global headquarters will house EG Group’s “key finance, legal and other corporate personnel” in a shift that aims to “offer the strongest possible support” with the company shifting into a new growth phase, according to the announcement.
- This comes about a week after EG Group’s co-founder and ex-CEO publicly pushed for a sale of the company’s U.S. business.
Dive Insight:
Although Zuber Issa’s recent comments may have raised speculation about EG Group offloading its EG America division, moving its global headquarters to the U.S. — the company’s largest and most profitable market — all but shatters that notion.
EG Group said that the move aims to reflect its reduced presence in the U.K. and Europe. The company sold over 1,000 c-store and fueling locations across the U.K. and Ireland in mid-2023, and last week, divested its businesses in Italy and Australia. Both moves were made to relieve debt, the company said.
The move to Charlotte comes a few months after the company’s board of directors appointed Russell Colaco as CEO of both EG Group and EG America — the first American chief executive in company history.
An EG Group spokesperson did not respond by press time when asked what made Charlotte the pick for the company’s next global headquarters. Although it has about 1,500 c-stores across 30 states, mainly on the East Coast, EG America doesn’t have any locations in North Carolina.
EG Group is moving its HQ to the states after what it called a “softer” performance from EG America during the early part of Q2, with underlying EBITDA falling by nearly 25%, according to the announcement. However, the company said that it rebounded in the latter part of the quarter due to an uptick in consumer demand and strong performances from various products and offers.
EG America also continues to rebrand its 110 Tom Thumb c-stores across Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee to Cumberland Farms. The $50 million initiative kicked off in May 2022 and was initially expected to be complete in 2024, the company said at the time.
EG Group emphasized on Wednesday that this program is still ongoing, although the spokesperson did not respond by press time when asked for a new estimated completion date and what has caused the delay.
