Booker may be the leading player in the cash & carry market but wholesaling isn’t a sexy sector to be in. The company therefore sometimes doesn’t command the column inches its retail counterparts do.

So the wholesaler’s enviable 27% hike in full-year profits to £90.8m- and the resulting 5.5% increase in its share price - has, so far, been largely overlooked by the national press.

The profit rise wasn’t the only positive number. Sales jumped 9.4% to £3.9bn in the 53 weeks to 30 March, with sales to caterers and retailers both up by 6.1%. And net cash continues to grow, up from £27.1m to £63.4m.

But beyond the financials, there were signs of some tantilising projects in the pipeline that are bound to give Booker’s rivals sleepless nights.

For a start, there are big plans for Ritter-Courivaud and Classic Drinks - the fine food supplier and on-trade distributor Booker acquired in 2010.

Booker trialled a Ritter-Courivaud concession in its Brighton depot last November and, following success there, more concessions are set to roll out over the next 12 months. It’s planning to open ‘Ritter Lites’ - scaled-down versions of the Ritter range - in 30 depots.

“Customer reaction to Brighton was fantastic and so we’re pulling together two bays of Ritter fresh and ambient lines into selected branches,” says Booker Direct boss Mark Aylwin.

Also under Aylwin’s remit is Chef Direct, the new foodservice business launching next month. It has already won two contracts - for Angus Steakhouse and Revolution Vodka Bars - and Aylwin is eyeing as many as 30 contracts going forwards.

“We’re looking for long-term, low-risk, profitable foodservice accounts,” he says. “Customers want more choice and following the demise of DBC there is much less choice, so people want to hear our ideas.”

On the other side of the world, Booker is plotting the growth of its Indian business. It currently has three depots there, having launched in 2009, but Charles Wilson wants as many as 20 up and running by 2015 - five owned by the company and 15 run with a local partner.

“I was over there at the weekend and I’m chuffed to bits with how the depots look,” Wilson says. “They’re on track and going well.”

Back in the UK, with £63.4m burning a hole in Wilson’s pocket, more acquisitions are expected.

“We will be looking at acquisitions, but they have to be right for Booker,” Wilson says. “Last year we looked at two businesses but neither of them could bring to Booker what we wanted. If we found something that gave our customers something we don’t have, or would improve our customer base, then I wouldn’t be surprised.”

And this time next year, you wouldn’t bet on Booker being the UK’s biggest wholesaler outright. It’s currently the biggest cash & carry operator, but Palmer & Harvey is the biggest delivered wholesaler and the UK’s biggest wholesaler by turnover - currently £4.081bn, with Booker just £149m behind.

Perhaps if it achieves that milestone, Booker will start to get the attention it deserves.

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