Bestway Wholesale has announced a 10.5% increase in pre-tax profit to £23.2m for the year ending 30 June 2017, although revenue declined within its wholesale business.

The wholesaler’s Best-one stores enjoyed a 19.7% sales boost excluding tobacco, and 12.9% overall. The sales were recorded before the collapse of Palmer & Harvey, which has led to dozens of former Costcutter and Mace retailers switching to Best-one.

Retailers also benefitted from rebates in excess of £1m via the My Rewards rebate scheme.

Over the same annual period EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) rose by £8.6m to £37.6m.

However, the wholesale business saw a 2.2% decline in revenue to £2.12bn, which Bestway attributed to the deterioration in tobacco sales. Excluding tobacco, sales increased by 1.9%.

Martin Race, managing director of Bestway Wholesale, said: “These latest set of results puts Bestway Wholesale back on track after a year of investment in 2015/16. While market conditions continue to be challenging, we are seeing fantastic growth in our best-one symbol offer, multiple accounts businesses.

“Overall it has been a strong performance by the wholesale division. We have seen customer satisfaction scores, promotional sales and margins all increase while following our strategic commitment to operate for less.

“Non-tobacco sales are growing, however, like everyone else in the market, we have suffered in tobacco.”