WH Smith hails strong momentum in travel arm as revenues rise

(Sharecast News) - WH Smith posted a 4% jump in revenue for the 21 weeks to 25 January on Wednesday as it hailed strong momentum in the travel business, while high street sales fell as expected. Total travel revenue rose 8% at constant currency and 6% on a like-for-like basis, while revenue from the high street business fell 6% and 3%, respectively.

WH Smith, which announced on Monday that it was considering the potential sale of the high street business, said the performance of this segment was in line with its expectations.

Chief executive Carl Cowling said: "The group has had a good start to the financial year, and we continue to see strong momentum across our core travel business.

"Our UK travel business has delivered another excellent performance across all channels, as we continue to make good progress with the rollout of our one-stop-shop for travel essentials format.

"In North America, we have seen a notable shift in like-for-like revenue growth, up 3%, as a result of the actions we have taken to enhance our ranges and introduce new categories. We are also delighted to announce that we have won 8 stores at Orlando airport, further to our announcement in November and, more recently, a further 4 stores at Portland airport. We now have a new store pipeline of circa 60 stores in North America."