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Wholesaler Booker's second quarter buoyed by non-tobacco sales

(Adds analyst comment, share movement)

Sept 18 (Reuters) - Booker Group Plc (LSE: BOK.L - news) , Britain's biggest cash-and-carry wholesaler, said a robust performance at its non-tobacco business helped it post a marginal increase in second-quarter sales.

Shares (Frankfurt: DI6.F - news) in the company jumped 4.5 percent to 121.5 pence in morning trade on Thursday on the London Stock Exchange (Other OTC: LDNXF - news) .

The company said total group sales, including its loss-making cash-and-carry business Makro, rose 0.1 percent.

Booker's non-tobacco like-for-like sales rose 3.1 percent in the quarter, while Makro's non-tobacco like-for-like sales fell 10.8 percent as the company continued to dispose of unprofitable categories such as fashion and electricals.

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JP Morgan Cazenove analysts said strong performance at Booker's catering and retail businesses helped it "outperform the market despite the deflationary trends and increased price competition within the UK food retail/wholesale industry."

Booker runs 172 branches supplying grocery, spirits, tobacco and non-food items to caterers, convenience stores, restaurants and pubs in the UK. Non-tobacco sales represent more than 60 percent of Booker's total sales.

Booker bought Makro from German retailer Metro AG (Xetra: 725750 - news) in 2012 to increase its reach to small firms and hotels.

Metro (Other OTC: MTRAF - news) , which became Booker's largest shareholder as a result of the deal, sold its 9 percent stake in the wholesaler earlier this month for 196 million pounds ($319.32 million).

(1 US dollar = 0.6138 British pound) (Reporting by Aastha Agnihotri and Abhiram Nandakumar in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)