14th Nov 2024 09:57
(Alliance News) - WH Smith PLC on Thursday said profit fell during its most recent financial year, as revenue growth was offset by increased expenses.
The Swindon, England-based retailer said group pretax profit for the financial year that ended August 31 was GBP106 million post-IFRS 16, falling 3.7% from GBP110 million last year.
Group revenue grew 7.0% to GBP1.92 billion from GBP1.79 billion, while cost of sales increased 3.5% to GBP706 million from GBP682 million.
WH Smith proposed a final dividend of 22.6 pence per share, up 8.3% year-on-year from 20.8p, which gave a total dividend of 33.6p per share for the year.
Chief Executive Officer Carl Cowling said: "The group has delivered an excellent performance throughout the year, particularly over the key summer trading period.
"Our travel divisions are trading well with a particularly strong performance from our UK Travel business, with a trading profit up 20% to GBP122 million. We are making excellent progress in the UK as we continue to benefit from the rollout of our one-stop-shop format, which is creating significant opportunities to further grow profitability.
"Our most exciting opportunity for growth is in North America. We are very pleased to have recently won some significant new airport business, including wins at Dallas, Denver and Washington Dulles airports, and we are the preferred bidder for a further 15 stores across two major US airports. Our store opening programme is on track and we have a new store pipeline of around 60 stores already won.
"The new financial year has started well. While there is some economic uncertainty, we are confident that 2025 will be another year of good progress for the group."
Shares in WH Smith were down 4.2% at 1,247.00 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
By Emily Parsons, Alliance News reporter
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