WH Smith offers share buyback after strong travel year

The strong performance of its stores in airports and railway and bus stations has boosted annual revenue at WH Smith and prompted the retailer to announce a £50 million share buyback.
Like-for-like revenue at the FTSE 250 group’s global travel business increased by 10 per cent in the year to the end of August. That, in turn, drove a 7 per cent increase in total group revenue even as its traditional high street business continued to decline, falling 4 per cent in the year, in line with City expectations.
News of the healthy trading and the buying back of shares drove an 10.8 per cent rise in WH Smith’s share price, which closed up by 133p at £13.60.
Although the company used to be associated with books, newspapers and stationery, it now describes itself as a global travel retailer and has sought to become a “one-stop-shop” catering to captive audiences at airports, motorway services and railway stations, rather than to walk-in high street trade.
The company, which operates 1,100 outlets throughout the UK, said its travel division had been helped by strong passenger numbers and an expanded product range, including food, health, beauty and technology offerings.
It said its new food-to-go outlets, under the Smith’s Family Kitchen brand, were performing ahead of expectations. It opened its first café this year, in Princess Anne Hospital, Southampton. The 26-seat site, featuring takeaway and dine-in options, is set to be rolled out to other hospitals.
The group plans to open 37 Toys ‘R’ Us concessions before Christmas, more than doubling the number of mini-outlets at WH Smith stores since it relaunched the collapsed children’s chain in 2022.
The WH Smith Pension Trust completed a £1 billion full-scheme buy-in with Standard Life in 2022, insuring the liabilities of just under 12,950 members.
“We have finished the year in a strong position, delivering results in line with our expectations, with good growth across our travel businesses,” Carl Cowling, 50, the chief executive, said. “Our UK division performed particularly well over the peak summer period.”
This shift in focus to the one-stop shop model should continue, analysts at Peel Hunt, the broker, said. “UK travel was robust against strong holiday comparatives from last year. Average transaction value remains a major positive, with more health and beauty and small tech products in the mix.”
Analysts at Goldman Sachs said there was opportunity for “a long runway of opportunities for further contract wins”.
WH Smith’s first store, a newsagent, was opened by Henry Walton Smith and his wife, Anna, in Little Grosvenor Street, London, in 1792. In 1848 the company opened the first-ever travel retail store at Euston railway station in the capital. Today it has almost 1,800 stores in more than 30 countries, with a presence in 125 airports, and employs about 14,000 people.