Food price deflation hits Booker Group sales growth

(ShareCast News) - Investors in food wholesaler Booker Group were preparing for their annual general meeting on Wednesday morning, with chief executive Charles Wilson releasing his trading update ahead of the event.The FTSE 250 firm saw total group sales rise by 10% in the 12 weeks to 17 June, in what Wilson called "another solid quarter".Total tobacco sales grew 6.4%, while total non-tobacco sales grew 11.7%.On a like-for-like basis, however, group sales shrunk 2.9% with tobacco sales falling 7.7% and non-tobacco sales off by 0.7%."These sales were impacted by deflation in food prices and many customers reporting weak consumer demand during the period," Wilson said."Tobacco sales continued to be adversely impacted by the ban on small stores displaying tobacco products, down 7.7% like-for-like."Booker Direct, Chef Direct, Ritter and Booker India performed as we expected [while] Premier continues to grow and we made good progress with the integration of Budgens and Londis," he explained.Booker said its balance sheet remained strong with a net cash position.As previously announced, the board was seeking shareholder approval for a capital return of 3.2p per share at Wednesday's meeting, at a cost of £57m."Booker Group remains on course to meet expectations for the year ending 24 March 2017," Wilson confirmed.