The EG Group, owned by Blackburn's billionaire Issa brothers, saw its year-on-year profits before fall by seven per cent to £867.6 million.

The figure is released in the international petrol forecourt empire's latest set of results.

The fall in profits before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) in 2023 from 2022 is blamed on oil price volatility and a strong fuel performance last year.

The Blackburn-headquartered group reduced investment at its petrol forecourt business in a bid to pay down debts.

EG slashed its investment in growth by 37 per cent last year to £191 million, in what executives termed a “controlled reduction” to maximise liquidity.

It did not explicitly lay out where capital expenditure was cut but the business is said to have expanded its US operations “with minimal capital spend” last year, compared to the heavy investment reported in 2022.

EG is understood to have paid down its debt pile from £7.89 billion at the start of 2023 to £4.73bn by the end.

The results show in the fourth quarter of 2023 to December 31 the group made EBITDA profits of £192m, described as "consistent with last year on an underlying basis after adjusting for the majority of the UK business to Asda".

They also show grocery and merchandise sales were up one per cent in the three months, and food service sales up 10 per cent.

Fuel gross profit in the quarter was up two per cent set against a year on year drop.

A joint statement by brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa, who have also owned Asda since February 2021, said: "2023 saw the group action a number of significant strategic and refinancing objectives.

"We have strengthened the group's balance sheet and moved forward with our deleveraging programme, and remain committed to further deleveraging in the near to mid-term.

"In addition to our leveraging reduction and refinancing of our 2025 maturities the group delivered a resilient performance underpinned by our well-balanced and diversified international business.

"We are focused on maximising the future earnings potential of the group and have identified a number of local initiatives to grow and enhance performance across all of our markets.

"Looking ahead we are confident that EG Group is well-positioned for future growth and success.

"We are focused on ensuring that the group executes its compelling strategy and would like to thank all colleagues for their hard work over the previous year."