Newsagent WH Smith on Friday hailed “a strong performance” to the financial year thanks to continued robustness at its travel division.
Group sales at the FTSE 250 company rose 8% during the 20 weeks to 20 January, or 9% at constant currencies. At travel — a unit responsible for around three-quarters of total turnover — the top line leapt 13% year on year, or 16% at stable exchange rates.
WH Smith said that it is benefitting from improving passenger numbers across UK airports, while it has also enjoyed solid trading in hospitals and at its railway units.
Consequently, revenues from its travel UK arm rose 15% over the period, or 14% on a like-for-like basis.
Travel Remains Rock-Solid
Travel revenues in North America, meanwhile, rose 14% over the period at constant currencies. Here the company said that it is witnessing “passenger number growth and strong demand for our travel essentials categories.”
Revenues at WH Smith’s other global locations rose 24% on a constant currency basis.
The retailer operates 1,253 stores across its worldwide travel network. And it is on course to open 50 new stores in North America this financial year, it said, a significant proportion of the 110 it is set to unveil across the group.
WH Smith said described its growth opportunities in North America as “substantial” and said that there is “a good pipeline of tenders.”
Sales continued to decline at the firm’s high street operations at the start of the financial year, down 4% in the 20-week period.
Cowling’s Confident
Chief executive Carl Cowling commented “I am pleased with the start to the financial year. Our travel business is growing strongly across all our divisions and we have seen a notably strong performance in the UK.”
He said that “we continue to make excellent progress in North America, and I am particularly excited by the substantial growth opportunities that exist in this market.”
Cowling added that WH Smith “is trading well and is in its strongest ever position as a global travel retailer,” noting that “we are confident of another year of significant growth in 2024.”
At £12.17 per share, WH Smith’s share price was last 1.2% lower in end-of-week trade.