Strong first half performance gives retailer ‘significant’ recovery as High Street ‘consistently good’
WHSmith’s mix of convenience, travel essentials, gift and greetings has earned it a very strong performance in the first half of the year as revenue soared by 41% to £859million.
While “strong momentum” across the group’s global Travel business saw it benefit from a “significant” recovery, according to the interim results announcement released today, 20 April, there was a “consistently good performance” in the UK High Street arm.
CEO Carl Cowling said: “We have seen a strong performance in the first half of the year further strengthening our confidence in the prospects of our global travel business. We expect Travel to represent over 70% of group revenue and around 85% of group profit from trading operations by the end of this financial year.
“Travel UK, our largest division, has delivered a strong first half performance and has excellent growth prospects. Revenues are 19% ahead of 2019 levels despite passenger numbers being considerably below 2019 levels. This performance has been driven by our category expansion, focus on average transaction value, the success of InMotion and our travel essentials one-stop-shop format.”
The results for the six months to 28 February, 2023, show the total Travel profit reach £47m against £10m a year prior, while High Street profit was slightly down at £24m from £26m, although this was in line with expectations.
The report stated: “We saw a consistently good performance in High Street throughout the period, with the important Christmas trading period flat year on year on a LFL basis,” and the business benefited from a good performance across its books category, supported by Prince Harry’s autobiography Spare.
Internationally the retailer has a new store pipeline of more than 120 stores in Travel, including 60 in North America, while Travel UK is its largest division and notched up a 19% sales growth against 2019 levels, despite passenger numbers being considerably lower – revenue here was 66% up at £314m against £189m in 2022.
Carl added: “I am increasingly excited by the opportunity in our Rest of the World division. Our strategy of establishing a presence in multiple countries as a base for significant growth is demonstrated well by the growth in our store estates in Spain, Germany and Australia.
“Looking ahead, we are very well positioned to capitalise on the substantial growth drivers across our markets and we expect to make further good progress in the years ahead. Current trading is strong and we are ahead of expectations for the full year.”
Top: WHSmith’s UK High Street arm has had a consistent performance
