WH Smith: Travel drives growth ahead of possible high street exit

Revenue at WH Smith rose four per cent in the first half of the financial year, driven by growth in its travel stores as it prepares to exit the high street.

Total travel revenue rose six per cent like for like in the 21 weeks to January 25, while high street revenue dipped three per cent.

Earlier this week, WH Smith confirmed that they would be exploring a possible sale of their high street business .

“Over the past decade, WH Smith has become a focused global travel retailer. The group’s travel business has over 1,200 stores across 32 countries, and three-quarters of the Group’s revenue and 85 per cent of its trading profit comes from the travel business,” the company said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange yesterday.

The news was well received by the market, with its share price up by 10 per cent in the last five days.

“Today’s figures show we haven’t warmed any more to the town centre stores… WH Smith needs to run its travel store winners and cut the lagging high street arm loose,” Robinhood UK lead analyst Dan Lane said.

WH Smith said travel sales “remain particularly strong in air” where revenue has been growing ahead of passenger numbers, up nine per cent  versus the same period last year.

Chief executive Carl Cowling said: “The Group has had a good start to the financial year, and we continue to see strong momentum across our core Travel business.

“Our UK Travel business has delivered another excellent performance across all channels, as we continue to make good progress with the rollout of our one-stop-shop for travel essentials format.

“In North America, we have seen a notable shift in like-for-like revenue growth, up 3 per cent, as a result of the actions we have taken to enhance our ranges and introduce new categories. We now have a new store pipeline of circa 60 stores in North America.

“The Group is in a strong position, and while there is some economic uncertainty, we are confident of another year of good growth in 2025.”

As of January 28, the Group had purchased 1.4m shares for cancellation worth £17.5m as part of its £50m share buyback.