Booker Group Share Discussion Threads

[blondviking] 08/6/2013 19:25

Fall must be on the back of Director sells but Fridays lift should have stopped the fall. I can only suggest that it is another buying opportunity.

[dlewis1] 06/6/2013 10:11

This is really crazy... 750k as a delayed buy from yesterday and the share price is still suppressed??

[woodpeckers] 29/5/2013 19:11

I'm sure they'll have found good homes.

I've been wondering when we would see a few director sells. In fairness they haven't sold any of their options for a fair while. I think they deserve to take a little off the table, they deserve a few treats after all their hard work. It's not as though any are selling out, the CFO still has 10 million shares so he can't be too worried! :-)

[choppa] 29/5/2013 16:38

Alot of director sells today. Wonder who picked them up?

[kendo10] 23/5/2013 10:25

Agreed woody! Shame that the results are not on advfns news centre yet, could of been a lot better. This could be in for a while now and we will after see how the Dow and s&p 500 do this afty after the dramatic fall last evening, this will give us an indication whats in store for everyone tomorrow and next week. Fingers crossed but there will be good buying opportunities when its all over!

[woodpeckers] 23/5/2013 07:57

Absolutely, kendo. The story just seems to get better and better here. That chart certainly seems to be justified, even Charles Wilson is sounding fairly bullish for the first time. Definitely an understate and outperform company.

-grew sales by over GBP135m
-operating profit of GBP99.1m was up 12%
-Net cash of GBP77.2m (2012: GBP63.4m), after paying GBP15.8m in respect of the cash element of the Makro consideration

and final dividend up 15%! What's not to like! :-)

[kendo10] 23/5/2013 07:42

Excellent results and probably our only saving grace today!

[blondviking] 20/5/2013 20:32

Looks good for results on Thursday.

[choppa] 20/5/2013 20:22

Through 130p. Looks good.

[skinny] 13/5/2013 16:32

Barclays Capital Overweight 124.45 150.00 150.00 Reiterates

[woodpeckers] 19/4/2013 07:37

Yes, not sure it will affect the share price really but good to get confirmation.

[blondviking] 19/4/2013 07:26

19/04/13 - ACQUISITION OF MAKRO

The Board of Booker Group plc is pleased to note that the Competition Commission, in its final report published today, has unconditionally cleared the completed acquisition of Makro Holding Limited.

The news is a s expected but at least they can now actually get on and make it work!

[birdsedgeuk] 06/4/2013 22:30

Been bought on www.traderdiary.co.uk

[choppa] 04/4/2013 21:25

Booker Group: Investec increases target price from 108p to 134p and retains a buy recommendation.

[woodpeckers] 04/4/2013 15:49

Not often we see BOK down on results day, but as most of my monitor is red I guess 1% isn't dire! ;-)

[immokalee] 04/4/2013 07:51

Yes, everything looks in good shape, increased cash, increased sales including internet sales.... If they continue along this structure IMO Makro should integrate nicely.

[woodpeckers] 04/4/2013 07:33

Another very solid set of results!

They are obviously reshaping the business, moving away from tobacco sales and towards caterers "Sales to caterers rose by 6.2%" and the internet where "sales up by 11%" is fantastic.

Good to see that customer numbers increased by 5% again and of course that money pot "The Group had around GBP77m net cash at the end of the year" just keeps growing despite big purchases like Makro.

We never seem to get much detail about India though with 3 'and a half' branches there already, I guess we can presume that everything is going according to plan.

Looking forward to seeing how the Makro integration affects figures in the future as I would imagine CW has big ideas for it as it was presumably a slightly risky acquisition.

Hope we get the usual post results rise today. It seems to come in the afternoon when word has got out. Booker investors obviously don't like getting out of bed too early! :-)

[immokalee] 03/4/2013 20:18

Trading statement tomorrow, so not surprised on the slight pull back from today's highs.

[woodpeckers] 15/3/2013 13:51

Yet more press coverage:

The Telegraph

Booker Rises to Seven-Year High on Makro Approval: London Mover
By Colm Heatley - Mar 14, 2013 4:54 PM GMT

Booker Group Plc (BOK), a British food wholesaler, rose to the highest price in seven years after the Competition Commission indicated it won't have to dispose of assets in its purchase of Metro AG's U.K. unit.

"The news could not be better, with the Competition Commission provisionally clearing the Makro deal, seemingly without the need to dispose of any of the 30 branches," Nicola Mallard, an analyst at Investec who recommends buying the stock, wrote in a note today. "Booker can now press ahead and integrate the business."

The shares rose 7.8 percent to close at 125 pence, the biggest gain since May and the highest price since February 2006 in London trading. More than 6.2 million shares traded, almost triple the daily average over the last three months.

Booker's purchase of Makro Holding Ltd. from Dusseldorf, Germany-based Metro AG (MEO) won't lead to a "substantial lessening of competition," the commission said today in a statement. The group estimates the U.K. "cash-and-carry" wholesale market is worth 11 billion pounds ($16.4 billion) a year, and said it will give a final report on April 24.

Booker bought Makro from its German owner last year in a deal that valued the unit at 139.7 million pounds, in order to increase the variety of food products it wholesales to caterers, retailers and other businesses. The combined company will face competition "in all areas affected by the merger," the commission said. Booker operates 172 stores, while Makro has 30, the group said.

The purchase was referred to the Competition Commission by the Office of Fair Trading in November and the commission said today it will consider responses to the preliminary findings before its final report next month. Metro received cash and a Booker stake of more than 9 percent in the transaction.

To contact the reporter on this story: Colm Heatley in Belfast at [e-mail]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Douglas Lytle at [e-mail].

[woodpeckers] 15/3/2013 11:32

That's interesting steve. How do you know?

Booker Rises to Seven-Year High on Makro Approval: London Mover
By Colm Heatley - Mar 14, 2013 4:54 PM GMT

Booker Group Plc (BOK), a British food wholesaler, rose to the highest price in seven years after the Competition Commission indicated it won't have to dispose of assets in its purchase of Metro AG's U.K. unit.

"The news could not be better, with the Competition Commission provisionally clearing the Makro deal, seemingly without the need to dispose of any of the 30 branches," Nicola Mallard, an analyst at Investec who recommends buying the stock, wrote in a note today. "Booker can now press ahead and integrate the business."

The shares rose 7.8 percent to close at 125 pence, the biggest gain since May and the highest price since February 2006 in London trading. More than 6.2 million shares traded, almost triple the daily average over the last three months.

Booker's purchase of Makro Holding Ltd. from Dusseldorf, Germany-based Metro AG (MEO) won't lead to a "substantial lessening of competition," the commission said today in a statement. The group estimates the U.K. "cash-and-carry" wholesale market is worth 11 billion pounds ($16.4 billion) a year, and said it will give a final report on April 24.

Booker bought Makro from its German owner last year in a deal that valued the unit at 139.7 million pounds, in order to increase the variety of food products it wholesales to caterers, retailers and other businesses. The combined company will face competition "in all areas affected by the merger," the commission said. Booker operates 172 stores, while Makro has 30, the group said.

The purchase was referred to the Competition Commission by the Office of Fair Trading in November and the commission said today it will consider responses to the preliminary findings before its final report next month. Metro received cash and a Booker stake of more than 9 percent in the transaction.

To contact the reporter on this story: Colm Heatley in Belfast at [e-mail]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Douglas Lytle at [e-mail].

[stever4747] 15/3/2013 11:06

Very important information:
ULVR to help Booker combine the Makro business model
Enormously good

[woodpeckers] 14/3/2013 14:32

Booker Group's "Buy" Rating Reaffirmed at Investec Securities (BOK)
March 14th, 2013 - 0 comments - Filed Under - by Trevor Kearing

Booker Group logoBooker Group (LON: BOK)'s stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by Investec Securities in a research note issued on Thursday.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on BOK. Analysts at Barclays Capital reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Booker Group in a research note to investors on Monday, February 25th. They now have a $1.74 price target on the stock. Separately, analysts at JPMorgan Chase initiated coverage on shares of Booker Group in a research note to investors on Wednesday, February 20th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $1.89 price target on the stock. Finally, analysts at Investec reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Booker Group in a research note to investors on Thursday, January 17th. They now have a $1.73 price target on the stock.

Shares of Booker Group opened at 123.889 on Thursday. Booker Group has a one year low of GBX 72.05 and a one year high of GBX 118.072. The stock's 50-day moving average is currently GBX 94.36. The company's market cap is £2.026 billion.

Booker Group plc is a food wholesaler. In the United Kingdom, the Company has cash and carry business centers and a national delivery network, which includes the Ritter-Courivaud and Classic Drinks.