20th Jan 2021 09:56
(Alliance News) - WH Smith PLC on Wednesday reported a strong performance throughout its Christmas trading period, ahead of management expectations despite reduced retail footfall.
Shares in the books and stationery retailer were up 5.7% at 1,644.00 pence on Wednesday in London, the best performer in the FTSE 250 index.
For the month of December, revenue from the group's High Street business reached 92% of the prior year's levels, while Travel revenue stood at 36%, leading to total group revenue achieving 67% of the 2019 financial year's figure for the month.
For the 20 weeks ended January 16, WH Smith's High Street business reported a strong recovery, achieving 87% of revenue reported for the same period the year before, with robust trading from both the group's seasonal and "work from home" ranges, leading to a Christmas exit with a clean stock position.
In line with UK government guidance, most of WH Smith's stores remained open and continue to do, as newsagents are classified as essential retailers. Also, the group's online businesses such as funkypigeon.com, cultpens.com and whsmith.co.uk have traded well with sales significantly ahead of the prior year.
However, Travel's revenue was at 37% of the prior year's revenue for the 20-week period, as WH Smith continued to focus on cost management, and category development. During the period, the group extended several contracts, won a new bookshop at Heathrow Terminal 2 and opened three new stores.
As a result, for the 20 week-period, WH Smith's total revenue was 59% of the figure reported for the year before.
Looking ahead, WH Smith is currently trading from most of its High Street stores under the UK's third national lockdown, including 200 stores with Post Offices and around 200 UK Travel stores.
In addition, the group said it has not experienced any disruption from the UK leaving the European Union, and does not expect it to have any real effect on its ability to import stock.
At the end of December, WH Smith had GBP340 million in available cash and facilities.
"In our High Street business, we worked hard to navigate our way through the evolving Covid restrictions as we approached the Christmas trading period. This positioned us well, resulting in a better than expected Christmas with sales in December at 92% of 2019 levels. Our online businesses continued to deliver significant year on year growth in the period," said Chief Executive Carl Cowling.
"In our Travel business, we saw little change in the environment prior to the current lockdown, as expected, with sales in December at 36% of 2019 levels. We remain focused on average transaction values which continue to grow, cost control, and operational efficiencies and I am pleased with the progress we are making, particularly given the backdrop of significantly reduced passenger numbers," Cowling added.
Also on Wednesday, WH Smith announced the appointment of Kal Atwal as non-executive director with effect on February 1.
Atwal's most recent executive role was at BGL Group - which owns price comparison site Comparethemarket.com, where she was director for Brand-led Businesses for six years from 2012 to 2018.
WH Smith will publish its results for the six months to the end of February on April 29.
By Dayo Laniyan; [email protected]
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