Supermarkets like Sainsbury may be pushing hard into the convenience retail space, but that hasn't taken the wind out of Booker's sails (or its sales). The UK's largest food wholesaler saw group like-for-like sales climb 6.5 per cent, as sales to its 73,000 small retail customers rose 5.5 per cent to £2.31bn.
A sales drive into the catering industry was also an important component of growth and profitability improvement. Like-for-like sales to the 305,000 caterers the group serves increased 9.1 per cent to top £1bn for the first time, resulting in a higher margin sales mix and a 0.15 percentage-point improvement in group operating profit margins, to 1.97 per cent.
However, management warned that although trading in the first seven weeks of the new financial year had been in line with expectation, the outlook was less certain. "We're planning on it being challenging," said chief executive Charles Wilson. Overseas, the group opened its first store in Mumbai last September, with further Indian openings planned in the coming years.
Broker Shore Capital expects full year pre-tax profits of £61m and EPS of 3.3p (2010: £56m/3.1p).
BOOKER (BOK) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 41p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 609m | |
| TOUCH: | 40-42p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 50p | LOW: 29p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.1% | PE RATIO: | 13 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 19p* | NET CASH: | £7m | |
| Year to 26 Mar | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 3.08 | -142.0 | -9.96 | nil |
| 2007 | 3.01 | 26.7 | 0.73 | nil |
| 2008 | 3.08 | 36.2 | 2.04 | 0.54 |
| 2009 | 3.18 | 47.2 | 2.63 | 0.87 |
| 2010 | 3.39 | 57.2 | 3.19 | 1.27 |
| % change | +7 | +21 | +21 | +46 |
Ex-div: 02 Jun Payment: 09 Jul *Includes intangible assets of £424m, or 28p a share | ||||
