WH Smith pleased with sales performance

Retail chain WH Smith said today it continued to trade well, despite a 4% decline in like-for-like sales over the 21 weeks to last weekend.
By The Newsroom
Published 27th Jan 2010, 08:23 BST

High street stores posted a fall of 5% in the period, while its portfolio of travel-based outlets revealed a drop of 2%.

This was broadly in line with previous trends as WH Smith reduced its reliance on the highly competitive entertainment market, including CDs and DVDs, and focused more on its core books, stationery and confectionery markets.

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Chief executive Kate Swann said margins improved in both divisions while she noted that high street like-for-like sales were 1% lower when stripping out entertainment sales.

She added: "The group delivered a good performance during the period. We made further progress in our high street business and our travel business continues to perform well, despite soft passenger numbers at airports.

"Although we remain cautious about consumer spending, we have planned accordingly and are confident in the outcome for the full year."