(Reuters) - Booker Group Plc (L:BOK), Britain's biggest cash-and-carry wholesaler, reported a nearly 2 percent rise in first-half sales and said trading in the first four weeks of the second half was ahead of the same period last year.
The Wellingborough-based company said it was on track to meet its plans for the year.
Total sales for the first half rose to 2.3 billion pounds for the 24 weeks ended Sept. 12 from 2.2 billion pounds a year earlier, the company said.
Booker's like-for-like sales excluding Makro were up 2.4 percent. The company acquired German cash-and-carry business Makro in 2012.
Booker, which runs 172 branches supplying grocery, spirits, tobacco and non-food items to caterers, convenience stores, restaurants and pubs in the UK, said pretax profit before exceptionals jumped 16 percent to 67.4 million pounds.
(Reporting by Aastha Agnihotri and Noor Zainab Hussain in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)