Bestway buys Bargain Booze

The Bestway Group has bought Conviviality’s retail businesses which include Bargain Booze and Wine Rack.

The deal follows the appointment Matthew Callaghan, Ian Green and David Baxendale of PricewaterhouseCoopers as administrators of Conviviality on 5th April.

Bargain Booze is a national chain of primarily franchised off-licences, with 452 outlets across the UK.

Select Convenience is a drinks led convenience store with 197 stores across the UK;

Wine Rack is a wine and spirits retailer primarily in London and the South East of England with 31 outlets;

WS Retail, trading under Central Convenience Stores, is a chain in the South West of England with 127 outlets.

Matthew Callaghan, partner at PwC, said: “This deal safeguards the jobs of more than 2,000 employees, ensures franchisees have the ability to continue to trade and creates some much-needed stability for business customers and the sector in general.”

In the year to 30th June 2016, the Bestway Group had sales of £3.3 billion and pre-tax profit of £413m.

Bestway Wholesale trades from 62 warehouses under the Bestway and Batleys names and has an 18 per cent market share in the grocery wholesale sector. It offers some five and a half million square feet of selling space, a product line of over 25,000 items and serves 100,000 independent retailers, many of who provide 24 hours service to various communities throughout the country.

Bestway also operates the Best-one symbol group which has 1,113 participating retailers.

On 4th April Irish drinks group C&C completed the purchase Conviviality’s wholesale business which trades as Matthew Clark and Bibendum.