Booker Group PLC (Public - LON:BOK) is a food wholesaler. The Company consists of Booker Wholesale, Makro, Booker Direct, Classic Drinks, Ritter Courivaud, Chef Direct and Booker India. The Company is a cash and carry operator, offering branded and private-label goods, which are sold to over 486,000 customers, including independent convenience stores, grocers, leisure outlets, pubs and restaurants. The Company's product lines, consist of a range of branded and own label grocery, fresh and frozen food, beers, wines, spirits, tobacco and non-food items. The Company trades from 172 branches in the United Kingdom. The Company owns a number of own label brands, including Catering brands-Chef’s Larder and Lichfields; Wine, spirit and tobacco brands-Malt House Vinters and Chekov, and Retail own label-Happy Shopper and Euro Shopper.
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Nov 2017 - Tesco's £3.7bn takeover of food wholesaler Booker has been provisionally cleared by the UK's competition regulator.
Tesco said it anticipated the merger would be completed in early 2018.
The combined Tesco/Booker operation has sales of £60bn, the rest of the UK wholesale industry amounts to £25bn. Other wholesalers will not be able to compete with the buying and distribution power of Tesco/Booker.