29
January 2025
WH Smith
PLC
The
global travel retailer
Ahead of
its Annual General Meeting, the Company announces its trading
update
for
the 21 week period to 25 January
2025
Good start to the financial
year with strong growth across all Travel
divisions.
Acceleration in like-for-like
revenue in North America
Commenting on today's announcement, Carl Cowling, Group Chief
Executive 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 c.60 stores in North
America.
"I
would like to thank our colleagues across the Group who go above
and beyond to serve the millions of customers that shop with
us.
"The Group is in a strong position, and while there is some
economic uncertainty, we are confident of another year of good
growth in 2025."
Trading Update
The Group has delivered a good
performance over the 21 week period with total Group revenue up 4%
on a constant currency basis, compared to the prior year. Across
our global Travel divisions, we have seen strong momentum since the
start of the financial year with revenue up 8% on 2024 on a
constant currency basis. Our UK High Street division delivered a
performance in line with our expectations.
|
Revenue 21 Weeks to 25
January 2025
|
|
Total
versus
2024
|
Total constant currency
versus 2024
|
LFL1
versus
2024
|
UK
|
7%
|
7%
|
7%
|
North America
|
3%
|
6%
|
3%
|
Rest of the World
|
12%
|
16%
|
9%
|
|
|
|
|
Total Travel
|
7%
|
8%
|
6%
|
|
|
|
|
High Street2
|
(6)%
|
(6)%
|
(3)%
|
|
|
|
|
Group
|
3%
|
4%
|
3%
|
1 Constant
currency
2 Includes internet businesses
Travel UK
In Travel UK, our largest division,
total revenue in the 21 week period was up 7% and also up 7% on a
LFL basis, further building on the strong growth of the prior year.
We continue to identify opportunities to roll out our one-stop-shop
for travel essentials format and we are seeing good results from
our new food and extended health and beauty ranges which are
driving further profitability.
Across all our channels, we continue
to focus on our key growth drivers: space growth, increasing ATV
and spend per passenger, driving EBIT margins and benefitting from
the growth in passenger numbers and customers. Momentum remains particularly strong in Air where we are
seeing good results, with revenue growing ahead of passenger
numbers.
|
Revenue 21 Weeks to 25
January 2025
|
|
Total
versus
2024
|
LFL1
versus
2024
|
Air
|
9%
|
9%
|
Hospitals
|
8%
|
4%
|
Rail
|
5%
|
4%
|
|
|
|
Total Travel UK
|
7%
|
7%
|
North America
In North America, revenue for the 21
week period was up 6% compared to the prior year on a constant
currency basis, and up 3% on a LFL basis.
Our Travel Essentials business,
which is the largest and fastest growing part of our North American
division, delivered a strong performance with total revenue on a
constant currency basis up 20% and up 7% on a LFL basis, compared
to the prior year. We continue to actively
analyse our space to enhance our ranges, introduce new categories
and review space allocation. This has delivered encouraging
results. We are seeing a number of good opportunities to win and
open more Travel Essentials stores in Air.
The performance of our smaller
businesses, InMotion and Resorts has improved with LFL revenue in
the first 21 weeks down 1% and flat respectively.
Total revenue in North America
reflects 10 store closures across two major hotels in Las Vegas,
which as previously announced have closed, and the closure and
refurbishment of 5 stores across Charlotte and Denver airports.
This is also part of the ongoing strategy to improve the quality of
our store estate and to focus our investment in higher growth
airport Travel Essentials stores.
The growth opportunities in North
America are substantial and we are
delighted to now be able to announce 8 store wins at Orlando
airport and a further 4 new stores across Portland airport. We now
have a pipeline of c.60 stores won and yet to open.
|
Revenue 21 Weeks to 25
January 2025
|
|
Total
versus
2024
|
Total constant currency
versus
2024
|
LFL1
versus
2024
|
Travel Essentials
|
17%
|
20%
|
7%
|
InMotion
|
(12)%
|
(9)%
|
(1)%
|
Air
|
6%
|
9%
|
4%
|
Resorts
|
(8)%
|
(5)%
|
-%
|
|
|
|
|
Total North America
|
3%
|
6%
|
3%
|
Rest of the World (ROW)
Total revenue for the 21 week period
was up 16% on a constant currency basis, compared to the prior
year, and up 9% on a LFL basis.
In the Rest of the World, we remain
well positioned to benefit from further opportunities as more space
becomes available.
High Street
In our UK High Street division, LFL
revenue was down 3% compared to the prior year in line with our
expectations. We exited the Christmas trading period with a clean
stock position and we are on track to deliver our targeted full
year cost savings of £11m.
Share
buyback
Further to the announcement from the
Group on 11 September 2024 regarding a £50m share buyback, as at 28
January 2025, the Group had purchased 1.4m shares for cancellation
for total consideration of £17.5m.
Outlook
We have made a good start to the
financial year and, while there is some economic
uncertainty, we are confident of another
year of good growth in 2025.
Interim Results
Announcement
WH Smith PLC, the global travel
retailer, will announce its 2025 Interim results on Wednesday 16
April 2025.
Enquiries:
WH
Smith PLC
|
|
|
Nicola Hillman
|
Media Relations
|
01793 563 354
|
Mark Boyle
|
Investor Relations
|
07879 897 687
|
|
|
|
Brunswick
|
|
|
Tim Danaher
|
|
020 7404 5959
|