Member Article

WH Smith profits steady as chief departs

Profits have risen 10% at WH Smith, led by strong performance across its travel stores in airports, railway stations and motorway services.

The chain said its high street stores has remained “resilient”, generating a smaller profit increase of 4%. Across sales of books, the retailer saw a much stronger second half, led by the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. Smith’s strategy of cost saving was reinforced with an additional £12m round of measures, to bring total target savings of £25m over the next three years. This year, £17m of cost savings were delivered through the introduction of self-scan checkouts in 109 stores and energy efficient lighting systems.

Group chief executive, Kate Swann announced she will step down from her role by June 2013, having piloted the firm through one of its most challenging periods, focusing on its core sales of books, stationery, magazines and greetings cards. Commenting on the trading update, Mrs Swann said: “We have delivered another strong performance across the Group with EPS up 22% in the year. In Travel we have grown profit by 11% and have made further good progress in our international channel, with over 100 units either open or won. “In High Street we saw another resilient performance, with profit up 4% and continued strong cash generation. The Group remains cash generative enabling us to invest in our businesses and in new opportunities, whilst returning cash to shareholders. We are recommending to increase the final dividend by 22%, which is in addition to the £50m share buyback completed last year and the further £50m announced in August. Looking ahead, we expect the trading environment to remain challenging, however we are a resilient business with a consistent record of both profit growth and cash generation, and we are well positioned for continued growth in the UK and internationally.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .