THE Issa brothers are reportedly planning to open more than 300 Asda stores on their EG Group forecourts across the country.

Reports in The Sunday Times claim that the Blackburn-based EG Group founders are planning to trial Asda on the Move stores on five of their forecourts before rolling them out elsewhere.

This with EG Group having reported a major increase in earnings, with Mohsin and Zuber Issa indicating plans for further expansion ahead, particularly where integrating Asda into their wider business strategy is concerned.

In a joint statement, the brothers said: "The group’s latest performance is further validation of our successful global strategy.

They added: "The resilience of our business model has been demonstrated during the pandemic, and we have emerged as an even stronger business as we enter the second half of the year with confidence."

The Blackburn born brothers acquired Asda last year, alongside their partners private equity firm TDR Capital, in a £6.8 billion deal that was mostly financed with asset sales and £3.7 billion of debt.

An inquiry into the deal launched by the Competition and Markets Authority delayed the Issa brothers' ability to make operational changes., however this has now been resolved.

As such the new owners are now free to restructure the supermarket giant's senior staff and to launch new moves like the plan to roll out Asda on the Move stores.

The reports in The Sunday Times claim they hope to combine their food retail and petrol businesses in order to boost grocery sales and generate savings on fuel purchases and costs.

This has also been behind their recent acquisition of fast food chain LEON and their ongoing attempts to takeover high street coffee chain Caffe Nero, which they have said previously would make a worthwhile partner for the business.

EG Group already runs franchises for KFC and Starbucks in the UK.