Booker has reported £2.3bn in sales for Q1 2025/26, with like-for-like growth of 2%, including core retail growth of 5.4%, driven by strong performance from its symbol brands.

However, overall growth was impacted by a 9% decline in tobacco sales and a slight drop of 0.8% in its Best Food Logistics food service arm.

Responding during an analyst call about the Q1 results, Tesco chief executive Ken Murphy said: “Booker delivered like-for-like growth of 2%. Summer is a crucial period for many of Booker’s customers, and the good weather has helped support trading during this time, with core retail sales up 5.4%.”

How has Booker responded to cyber attacks affecting the industry?

Amid cyber-attacks targeting M&S and the Co-op, Murphy revealed that Booker had stepped in to help and support affected retailers.  He added that the business is constantly investing in upgrading its cyber capabilities as the “sophistication” of potential attackers improves.

He said: “We absolutely feel great sympathy for both M&S and Co-op, because this is a threat we face as an industry. Over the period when they’ve been impacted, Booker has supplied M&S and Co-op with product and supported in any way they could.

“We stay vigilant, we stay close to industry and government bodies to make sure we’re applying any shared learning and look at it as a constant ongoing battle. We haven’t seen an uptick though in activity since some of our competitors were attacked.”

Booker launches fresh & frozen food guide for retailers

What is Booker doing to plan for the Deposit Return Scheme?

In May, the UK Deposit Management Organisation (UKDMO) was named as the operator of the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for single-use plastic and metal drink containers in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Murphy added that as Tesco is represented on the DMO, Booker would effectively take its guidance from that in how it prepares.

He said: “Each retailer will adopt their own strategy, but our philosophy is if we’re going to do it, ‘let’s do it right and do it well’ and we have a reasonable amount of experience with this as we’ve implemented it in our Irish business two years ago.”

No update on Booker loyalty scheme

In May 2024, a Tesco-style, Clubcard-like loyalty scheme was trialled for 12 weeks in Premier, Londis and Budgens stores, in conjunction with EPoS firm ShopMate, as part of a pilot that included 40–50 eligible household and grocery items.

Retailers participating in the scheme could also accumulate points for a chosen charity, which Booker converted into a cash donation at the end of the trial.

However, Murphy said it was “too early” to give an update on the scheme.

“Generally speaking, we run a trial like that for 12 weeks, and then we do the analysis after that. And that takes a couple of weeks. It’s not available yet,” he said.

Read more: Booker’s Scoot home delivery service removed from Android app store