WH Smith boosted by performance at travel business
WH Smith has seen its group revenue hit 117% of pre-Covid levels in the 11 weeks to 27 August after it was boosted by a strong second half performance from its travel business.
In a trading update, the book and stationery retailer said sales at travel sites, which include stores at airports and rail stations, surged to 135% of 2019 levels as it benefited from a recovery in passenger numbers across all of its key travel markets. It said the business performed particularly well in the UK and North America, although the post-Covid recovery has been slower in stores across the rest of the world.
Meanwhile, WH Smith’s high street business performed in line with expectations with sales coming in at 82% of 2019 levels after trading in the second half of its financial year were adversely impacted by a cyber hack at its online greetings card business, funkypigeon.com.
The results for the period meant that group revenue hit 112% of pre-Covid levels in the second half of the retailer’s financial year.
WH Smith said it expects the outcome for the year to 31 August 2022 to be in line with its upgraded expectations.
