19th May 2016
Wholesaler Booker Group has reported sales increased 5% to £5bn for the year ending arch 2016, with non-tobacco sales up 6.3%. Operating profit before exceptional items increased 11% to £155.1m.
The company said, “The group’s trading in the first seven weeks of the current financial year is ahead of last year. However, we anticipate that the challenging consumer and market environment will persist through the coming year and the UK’s food market remains very competitive. Whilst there is increasing price competition in the UK grocery and discount sectors, we will continue to deliver our plans to offer our customers even better choice, prices and service supported by the continued delivery of our efficiency programmes. We are on track to deliver an outcome for the new financial year in line with our plans and to make progress in this challenging environment.”
The company saw like-for-likes fall 1.9%, with a 0.3% decline in non-tobacco sales.
Chief executive Charles Wilson added: “Our plan to focus, drive and broaden the business remains on track. Booker Group had a good year; customer satisfaction was strong, sales and profits were the best we have ever achieved. We made good progress on the integration of Budgens and Londis. We are very grateful for the support of our customers, suppliers and people and look forward to making progress in the year ahead.”
www.booker.co.uk