WHSmith has posted soaring sales and profits off the back of increased footfall at its stores as travel rebounded from pandemic lows.
Beating analyst expectations, the group reported headline profit before tax of £143m for the year ended August 31, up 96% from last year while group revenue rose 28% to £1,793m.
In what the high street retailer called “significant progress”, its travel divisions all saw strong growth with UK trave total revenue up 36%, North America rising 32% and the rest of the world up 99%.
“With good trading and very positive prospects, despite the uncertainty in the economic environment, we are confident in the Group’s outlook for the new financial year,” said chief executive Carl Cowling.
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The business said in 2024, it is set to invest a further £140m which will “drive further growth and at the same time we expect our leverage to fall within our target range.”
Its sites in airports generated profits of £164m up from £89m, as the retailer confirmed plans to open over 110 stores in airports and train stations across the globe, including over 60 in North America.
Cowling said: “Our global travel business is growing in all our key markets. It is highly scalable with multiple medium and long term growth opportunities and we are seeing great results from sharing our expertise and innovation across our different geographies.
“Our North American business is benefitting from our forensic approach to space management which has always been a key feature of our UK Travel operations. In the same way, the ability of our North American business to provide bespoke retail formats is now being successfully harnessed outside of the US.”
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