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Booker is looking to recruit a further 1,000 retailers to its Premier symbol group over the next three years. 09-Mar-2009 Booker is to undergo a reverse takeover by Blueheath Holdings to create a combined food wholesaling group with annual turnover of £3bn. 10-May-2007 Booker, the Wellingborough-based wholesaler, is planning to shed 82 of its 440 head office jobs, in order to simplify its group functions. 04-Apr-2005 Booker is planning to consolidate its delivered wholesale operation into a national network of 15 to 20 depots, as part of a major overhaul that will enable the rest of its estate to focus on cash and carry customers. 08-Jul-2002 Iceland is to acquire Booker, the cash and carry group, in a £326m all-share deal, and the combined group will aim to achieve cost savings of £50m within two years. 26-May-2000 Booker is to close four cash and carry depots in Scotland - at Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Kirkcaldy - following the acquisition of Trademarket. 28-Feb-2000 Booker is acquiring the Trademarket cash and carry business from Alldays for £7.3m. 30-Nov-1999 Booker, the cash and carry group, is considering plans to set up an e-commerce business using spare distribution capacity, and talks are taking place with a number of interested parties. 25-Nov-1999 Booker has sold its Marine Harvest McConnell salmon farming business to Nutreco of the Netherlands for £33m, and is now looking to sell its Booker Tate and Fletcher Smith sugar-related subsidiaries. 16-Jul-1999 Booker has sold its Arbor Acres chicken breeding business in the US to BC Partners for £68m, and is now looking to sell its salmon farming business. 24-Jun-1999 Booker has sold its food service division to Bidvest of South Africa for £125m, in order to focus on its cash and carry business. 14-May-1999 Booker is cutting a further 170 jobs at its northern distribution depots, as part of an ongoing strategy to reduce costs. 28-Apr-1999 Booker is planning to raise margins at its cash-and-carry business by doubling the sales of chilled foods, and it expects to soon announce the sale of Booker Foodservice and the Arbor Acres chicken breeding operation in the US. 14-Apr-1999 Booker is closing its wholesale frozen food operations at Hatfield, Haydock and Bristol, as well as a depot in Northampton, with the loss of 600 jobs, and the rest of Booker Wholesale Foods is being sold to Palmer & Harvey McLane for £4.4m. 16-Feb-1999 Booker is to cut 200 jobs at its cash-and-carry head office in Wellingborough, as part of an ongoing strategy to improve the efficiency of Booker Belmont Wholesale. 07-Jan-1999 Booker is planning to close its head office in Buckingham Gate, London, sell the Booker Wholesale Foods business, and review the strategy behind Booker Foodservice and contract food distribution. 11-Nov-1998 Booker has sold its fish processing business to a vehicle set up by Legal & General Ventures for £44m, and it will be renamed Bluecrest Seafood. 27-Oct-1998 Booker has sold Daehnfeldt, the Danish seeds business, to Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst, for £29m, and it is now looking to sell its fish processing subsidiary and its US turkey breeding operation. 09-Oct-1998 Marine Harvest McConnell, the Scottish salmon farming operation, is considering plans for a management buy-out from its parent company Booker. 08-Oct-1998 Budgens, the supermarket group, has pulled out of merger talks with Booker, apparently due to disagreement over price. 16-Sep-1998 Booker is planning a reverse takeover of Budgens to create a major food distribution group with annual sales of over £5bn. 08-Sep-1998 Somerfield has withdrawn from discussions on a possible takeover of the Booker food distribution group, due to concerns over the possible commercial risks of such a deal. 29-Aug-1998 Booker Wholesale Foods is to close its distribution centre in Norwich in October with the loss of 80 jobs, and the business will be transferred to a new £20m centre in Northampton. 25-Aug-1998 Somerfield is in merger discussions with Booker, which would create a food distribution and retailing business with sales of more than £11bn. 18-Aug-1998 Booker, the food distributor and cash-and-carry, has announced that discussions are taking place that could lead to a merger, prompting speculation that Metro of Germany may be interested. 08-Aug-1998 Booker is to sell its 40% stakes in food and distribution in Portugal and Poland to its joint venture partner Jeronimo Martins of Portugal, for £72m. 21-Jul-1998 Booker is planning to sell non-core businesses such as fish processing, sugar, seeds, salmon farming, and poultry breeding, in order to focus on its cash and carry and food distribution operations. 03-Jun-1998 Booker is launching a strategic review that may include disposals and share buybacks following a fall in profits, but it is expected to retain its cash-and-carry and food distribution businesses. 18-Mar-1998 Booker has closed two cash-and-carry branches in Poole and Christchurch with the loss of 40 jobs. 03-Mar-1998 Booker, the cash-and-carry group, has closed the south London head office of its recently acquired Nurdin & Peacock business, as part of a plan to cut 1,200 jobs in the enlarged group. 29-Jul-1997 Booker is selling its prepared foods business to a management buy-in for £57m, in order to reduce debt and focus on its core food services business. 21-May-1997 Booker has won a £400m contract to supply food to the armed forces, thus ending the long-term contract with the Naafi. 29-Jan-1997 Booker, the cash and carry group, has made a £264m takeover bid for its main rival Nurdin & Peacock. 05-Sep-1996 Booker is acquiring a 40% stake in Sezginler Gida Sanayi ve Ticaret, the Turkish food distributor, and the two companies will jointly set up a network of wholesale outlets in Turkey. 27-Jun-1996 Booker, the cash and carry group, plans to grow organically and by acquiring warehouses but has not ruled out the possibility of a takeover. 29-Mar-1996 Booker Farming has been bought from Booker by a management buy-out for £7m. 28-Feb-1996 Booker is now looking for new cash and carry sites, having spent the last few years with about 160 outlets. 17-Feb-1996 Unigate has acquired the Lovell bacon business from Booker for £20.2m. 03-Jan-1996 Booker Belmont Wholesale is to form four regional distribution centres at a cost of £95m, with the first two (near Edinburgh and near Manchester) creating 600 jobs. 13-Oct-1995 Booker is planning to launch an alcoholic lemonade called Mad Macauley's. 15-Sep-1995
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