Booker Group Reports Growth in Quarterly Sales

Food wholesaler Booker Group PLC (BOK.LN) said Wednesday favorable weather and a late Easter holiday led to good sales growth in the first quarter of fiscal 2018.

For the 12 weeks to June 16, the company recorded total like-for-like sales growth of 4.2%. Total sales were up 4.0%.

First quarter like-for-like tobacco sales were down 7.9% and non-tobacco sales up 9.6%. The drop in tobacco sales was attributed to changes in tobacco legislation.

"This was a good quarter. Our plans to Focus, Drive and Broaden the Group are on track. On 27 January we announced the planned merger with Tesco and we are going through the competition process. Meanwhile business as usual is going well as we continue to improve choice, prices and service for our retail, catering and small business customers," said Chief Executive Charles Wilson.

Write to Tapan Panchal at tapan.panchal@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 05, 2017 02:25 ET (06:25 GMT)