Today's and Landmark boost sales

Landmark Wholesale and Today’s Group have both reported strong growth.

Today’s said it was reporting its best results for six years with +14% value and +9% volume, year-on-year for 2009.

The results were led by the non-food category, which was up 22%. Licensed also performed well up 16% in both value and volume terms.

Impulse was up 8% value and 9% in volume, and grocery value was up 6%.

“Today’s Group and its members have remained upbeat and taken advantage of the few positives to come out of the recession and of the highly positive partnerships we have with many key suppliers,” said Bill Laird, Today’s Group managing director.

Landmark’s sales for 2009, based on its top 80 suppliers, were up 6.3% from the previous year.

Soft drinks was the top performer, up 24.2%, and cigarettes rose by 13.8%. Cider increased by 18.9% and a strong Christmas helped year-on-year sales of spirits to increase 9.2%.

Managing director Martin Williams said: “While you cannot deny that the past 12 months have been a difficult time for businesses in general, the results of our top 80 supplier sales confirm that Landmark Wholesale, its members and the independent sector as a whole is still performing strongly and is, in the majority of categories, in growth.”