The book and stationary retailer WH Smith has announced that it is confident that its sales will beat expectations for the full year to the end of August.
An announcement from the retailer stated that sales in its high street business were slightly ahead of expectations as a result of high demand for books. Book retailers are enjoying a spike in sales with the recent releases of ‘Go Set a Watchman‘ by Harper Lee and ‘Grey‘ by E. L. James.
In a pre-close trading statement, the retailer said its travel business has consistently delivered strong results in the second half and had good sales across all of its core channels. Additionally the chain confirmed that the new store opening programme across the UK and overseas is on track.
The group stated “Accordingly WH Smith expects the outcome for the year to 31 August 2015 to be slightly ahead of the consensus of analysts’ expectations.
“We continue to deliver gross margin improvements and planned cost savings in line with our profit focused strategy.”
WH Smith will announce preliminary results for the year to 31st August on 15th October.
Talya Misiri
