WH Smith in talks to sell high street storeson January 25, 2025 at 7:40 pm

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The business says it is exploring a possible sale as its travel retail business arm accounts for most of its profits.

WH Smith in talks to sell high street stores

6 hours ago

Malu Cursino & Simon Browning

BBC News
Getty Images A man walks past a WH Smith store, which displays a sign "established 1792"Getty Images

WH Smith is in talks to sell its high street stores, the British retailer has said.

The firm said that it was “exploring potential strategic options for this profitable and cash-generative part of the group, including a possible sale” in a statement on Saturday.

It went on to say that over the past decade, the business had become “a focused global travel retailer”, with its travel arm having more than 1,200 stores across 32 countries.

The first of WH Smith’s more than 520 high street stores opened over 230 years ago, operating as a news vendor. It has since grown into a major high street and travel retailer.

The travel retail business side of WH Smith – which operates from airports, train stations and hospitals – now accounts for more than 85% of its profit. The high street business makes the rest.

The retailer said there was “no certainty that any agreement will be reached” but added that it would provide updates on the possible sale.

WH Smith was valued at £1.5bn at the close of business on Friday. That figure represents the value of the entire group.

Catherine Shuttleworth, a consumer retail analyst at Savvy Marketing, said shopping behaviour in the UK had “radically changed”, reducing the reasons to visit a WH Smith.

“Most of us read our news online not in magazines and newspapers, we download books and send birthday cards through online operators,” she said.

The focus for a business like WH Smith was now “in shops in high footfall areas like airports, stations and hospitals,” she added.

EPA A pedestrian passes a WHSmith store in London, Britain, 25 January 2025. British retailer WHSmith said it is exploring options to sell its entire high street business. WHSmith has more than five hundred stores across the UK and employs some five thousand people.EPA

Nicholas Found, of the Retail Economics research consultancy, said the modern high street was a “challenging climate” in which to operate.

Revenue from WH Smith’s high street stores dropped by £17m in 2024 compared with the year before, but profits stayed the same after the business closed 14 of its stores last year.

Its high street stores have also been viewed unfavourably by consumers.

In 2019, a Which? survey found WH Smith ranked the lowest among high street retailers – the ninth year in a row it appeared in the bottom two spots – with shoppers describing the stationery specialist as “cramped and messy”.

Mr Found said potential buyers may see opportunities to “restructure and reimagine WH Smith’s high street presence”.

Speaking after WH Smith’s most recent financial results, group chief executive Carl Cowling said: “Our UK high street business continued to deliver its strategy of managing space to maximise returns and maintaining a flexible cost structure.

“As part of this space management, we opened 30 Toys R Us shop-in-shops in the second half of the financial year, and have agreed a further 37 to open ahead of Christmas 2024.”

Toys R Us went bust in 2018 and a deal was struck with WH Smith to host concessions.

Mr Cowling told the BBC in 2023 that the retailer would not be opening any more UK high street stores. Instead, it would focus on UK airports and train stations, as well as opening shops in the US and Europe.

Mr Found said it was clear that WH Smith had “strategically pivoted” towards the “fast-growing travel retail business”. Dropping its high street business, he added, would allow it to focus entirely on its new direction.

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