Tesco first half profit up 24 percent on strong Booker sales

LONDON (Reuters) - Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer, reported a 24.4 percent rise in first half profit, boosted by the contribution from newly acquired wholesaler Booker and by strong summer sales in the core business.

Tesco, which spent nearly 4 billion pounds ($5.2 billion)buying Booker, said on Wednesday it made an operating profit before one off items of 933 million pounds for the six months to Aug. 25, up from 750 million pounds in the same period last year.

Tesco said UK like-for-like sales rose 2.5 percent in the second quarter, having increased 2.1 percent in the first quarter. Booker's like-for-like sales rose 15.1 percent in the second quarter.

The group said it was "firmly on track" to deliver our medium-term ambition.

($1 = 0.7693 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Kate Holton)