PROGRESS

WH Smith yesterday revealed that sales from its shops in train stations and airports have overtaken high street stores for the first time as it posted a 7 per cent hike in annual profits.

The retailer, which is one of the longest established names on the high street tracing its roots back to 1792, said its burgeoning travel arm is now the largest part of the group by both sales and profit, notching up a 10 per cent surge in annual earnings to £96 million and accounting for nearly twothirds of group trading profits.

This helped offset ongoing pressure on the high street business, which saw trading profits remain flat at £62m and like-for-like sales fall 4 per cent in the year to 31 August, despite a boost from spoof humour books such as Bruno Vincent’s Enid Blyton for grown-ups title, Five On Brexit Island.

Chief executive Stephen Clarke hailed a “good performance” across the group as overall pre-tax profits rose to £140m from £131m.

He said: “The travel business

0 The traditional high street branches have faced a number of headwinds

NICHOLAS HYETT, ANALYST continues to perform well with strong revenue growth, up 9 per cent in the year.

“For the first time, revenue in travel has overtaken high street, and travel is now the largest part of the group in both revenue and profit.”

He added the “economic environment remains uncertain”, but said the group is well-placed for the year ahead.

The board has proposed a final dividend of 33.6p per share, up 10 per cent on last year, giving a total pay-out of 48.2p, also a rise of 10 per cent on the prior year. WH Smith has 582 travel stores across the UK, as well as a growing overseas footprint, with 233 international shops. It said the overseas stores contributed £9m of the £96m reported for the travel business.

The high street arm continued to benefit from tight cost control to help offset flagging sales, although WH Smith cheered spoof humour books as a “key driver” of revenues, which helped counter a sharp drop in sales of so-called colour therapy titles.

“The transition has been managed deftly, with the high street sustaining profits despite falling sales.”