Booker suffered a decline in sales over the Q3 and Christmas period but will do “everything in its power to be very competitive and minimise cost to retailers”, Tesco CEO Ken Murphy has said.
For the 13 weeks to 22 November 2025, the Tesco-owned wholesaler reported a 0.9% fall in sales, while the six-week Christmas period that followed saw sales drop by 2.1%. Over the 19 weeks combined, sales declined by 1.3% to £3.2bn.
Murphy attributed this performance primarily to “the continuing decline of the tobacco market”. Over the period, Booker suffered a 10.9% decline in like for like tobacco sales.
While overall customer satisfaction was up year on year in its core retail division, sales declined by 0.4% to £1.17bn, impacted by the ending of a large national account in August.
It was announced in September that M&S had ended a long-term supply deal with Booker, appointing Blakemore as its primary wholesale partner instead.
Booker had been M&S’ branded supplier for more than 15 years. It is understood the decision to end the deal was influenced by Blakemore’s ability to deliver to M&S’ regional distribution network seven days a week, versus five days by Booker.
However, the period also saw the wholesaler open its 5,000th Premier account, with the symbol group “typically outgrowing the rest of the market materially”, Murphy said.
Core catering sales increased by 2.4% to £988m with a strong contribution from its specialist wine and spirit merchant Venus, which ”continues to win new business”.
Best Food Logistics sales also edged up by 0.6% to £532m, despite “continued weakness in parts of the fast food market”.
”I’m really pleased with Booker’s performance,” Murphy said. ”Looking forward, I think that Booker will continue to be incredibly competitive and has shown some great successes.
“Clearly the market outlook is challenging, but I am quite confident that Booker will perform strongly within the market. You can count on Booker to be very competitive in 2026,” he added.
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