Hospital boom is just the tonic for WH Smith

PATIENTS and visitors are flocking to WH Smith stores at hospitals – making them more popular than its train station shops.

The hospital sites are now the second- largest division in its travel business, after airports.

Analysts said demand at airports, hospitals and train stations has put the retailer on course for a near 7pc rise in full-year profits to £155m, as it moves away from the troubled High Street to focus on its booming travel division.

In a trading update, WH Smith said it has also been opening post offices in stores where it has too much space, and it now hosts 202 of them at its town and city centre shops. The company is also trying to sell more stationery to offset less profitable newspapers and magazines.

Analysts were full of praise for WH Smith as chief executive Stephen Clarke ( pictured) prepares to step down from his role in october, the day after its full-year results.

Under Clarke, 51, it has opened more stores and now has 867 travel shops and 607 High Street outlets. He has also taken WH Smith across the pond after buying America’s largest airport retailer of consumer electronics, In Motion, for £155m last year.

Shares have almost trebled in value since he took the job in 2013. WH Smith’s managing director of High Street stores, Carl Cowling, will replace him. John Moore, senior investment manager at Brewin Dolphin, said: ‘WH Smith is a rare retail success story against the turmoil of the High Street – a credit to its management.

‘It has delivered meaningful returns to shareholders. The inevitable question is how long this can go on for. But, with continued scope for international expansion, there doesn’t appear to be any significant disruption heading its way.’