Booker cheers rise in interim profits

Wholesaler Booker has reported a 9 per cent rise in profits and confirmed that its £3.7 billion merger with Tesco is still set to close by early 2018.

The group released interim results showing that pre-tax profit jumped just shy of double digits to £88 million in the 24 weeks to 8 September, though total sales grew just 2.5 per cent.