Despite an extremely tough trading period and considerably lower levels of inflation, turnover grew 8.8%, operating profit increased by 13.2% and headline earnings per share rose by 14.7%.
Operating expenditure was well controlled being only 4.6% up on prior year. This performance was influenced by the effect of lower fuel prices on delivery costs and a considerably reduced bad debt write off. Case volumes handled through the group's distribution centres increased 4.7% on the comparable prior period.