Booker news

BHS owner, Sir Philip Green, has provided new insight into trading and his plans for BHS Food in an interview with The Grocer. Potential for 140 high street stores To date BHS Food has opened in three locations: Staines, Warrington and as of last week, Romford, and with initial stores trading well, Green is keen to take a bigger slide of the convenience market. He sees scope to open 50 stor...

Leading UK wholesaler Booker has announced full year figures with sales up 17.3% to £4.7bn. The largest part of the uplift is due to the consolidation of the acquired Makro business, though excluding this, like-for-like sales were still solid on +2.1%. Online sales have now reached £777m, up 10%, with 334,000 out of a total 503,000 customers registered for online ordering. Strong growth in cater...

Leading UK wholesaler Booker has announced its Q3 trading performance, with total sales up 19.1% in the 16 weeks to 3 January 2014, boosted by the consolidation of the acquired Makro business.  The key uplift provided by Makro is in non-tobacco categories, where sales were up 29.3%. Core Booker stays solid On a like-for-like basis the core Booker business (excluding Makro) saw sales up 2.0% ...

Leading UK wholesaler Booker has announced sales of £2,223m for the first half of 2013/14, confirming total growth of 16.5%, following the consolidation of the acquired Makro business in April 2013.  The business is now focused on integrating Makro and has reported that this is expected to deliver £26m of synergies this year, helping improve profitability within the operation. Dual-branded Sheffi...

Leading UK wholesaler Booker has reported like-for-like sales in its core business up 3.5% in Q2 (12 weeks to 13 September).  This represents a clear improvement over Q1 when like-for-likes were just 1%, showing the benefit of the hot summer weather seen in July especially. The strength of trading in Q2 means that Booker ended the first half of 2013/14 up 2.3% on a like-for-like basis.  Overall gr...

In its 2013/14 Q1 trading statement, for the 12 weeks to 21 June, leading UK wholesaler Booker has reported total sales up 13.6%, though driven by the inclusion in group figures of the acquired Makro business for the first time.  In terms of category impacts the acquisition of Makro has boosted non-tobacco sales above all, with the combined business up 21% in these areas.   However, underlying sal...

Leading UK wholesaler Booker has announced its latest round of value activity to support its customers in both retail and catering channels in the key summer trading season. New 5-4-3-2-1 deal theme for retailers Following feedback from customers Booker will launch a new, themed programme of wholesale promotions for retailers on 19 June, with each deal offering a specified round pound v...

Leading UK wholesaler Booker has reported results for 2012/13, confirming sales up 3.5% to £3,992m, with operating profit up 12% to £99m.  Gross and operating margins both improved, rising to 4.0% and 2.4% respectively. These figures do not include any contribution from Makro, which, following competition clearance was finally consolidated within the wider Booker group as of 19th April. 2012/13 a...

Over 300 delegates attended the Symbol Conference this year to hear briefings from Nisa, SPAR UK, Premier and Costcutter. We've summarised some of the key take outs from the day here. On the look out for value IGD's latest ShopperVista research demonstrates the challenges facing British customers, highlighting 76% of those shoppers interviewed are still concerned about the cost of livin...

.style1 { border-width: 0; } Speaking at IGD's Symbol Summit, Booker announced it is to launch a new discount focused convenience store package, bringing a unique value focus to the symbol sector. 75% of products on permanent promotion Booker will launch this new symbol group alongside its Premier brand, allowing the independent operator to compete against the rise in discounters. The...