Leon: Restaurant chain’s loss-making streak continues amid Asda takeover

Restaurant chain Leon lost almost £20m in the year it was sold by the billionaire Issa brothers to Asda, it has been revealed.

The company had been purchased by the brothers’ Lancashire-based EG Group in 2021 before most of the group’s UK operations were sold to the supermarket giant for £2bn in October 2023.

At the time, Leeds-headquartered Asda was owned by the Issa brothers and TDR Capital, with Walmart holding a ten per cent stake.

However a deal, which was announced in June this year, is about to be completed which will see Zuber Issa’s shares in Asda bought by TDR Capital.

Now, newly-filed accounts with Companies House have revealed how Leon performed in 2023.

The results show that the chain’s turnover increased from £52.1m to £64.9m.

However, its pre-tax loss widened from £13.2m to £19.5m over the same period.

Leon has not made a pre-tax profit since the £358,793 it posted in 2015.

Rail strikes and working from home hit Leon

A statement signed off by the board said: “Throughout 2023, the business saw continued recovery from Covid-19.

“Weekly sales and footfall to our restaurants improved week by week, although the year remained challenging.

“The UK economy was still on the road to recovery going into 2023 which was exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.

“This again led to inflationary pressures, particularly seen with electricity costs and cost of sales.

“Industrial action, particularly rail and tube strikes, further affected the business, given the location of many Leon restaurants to transport hubs, resulted in lower footfall and sales on strike days.

“Furthermore, the working from home trend has impacted many Leon restaurants, particularly ones based in office centric locations and these have seen a slower recovery.

“Management remain confident that sales will continue to recover and this is supported by continual improvement seen in 2024.”