REG - WH Smith PLC - Trading Statement

WH SmithAnnouncement

26/01/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 9746A  WH Smith PLC  26 January 2024

26 January 2024

 

WH Smith PLC

 

The global travel retailer

 

Ahead of its Annual General Meeting, the Company announces its trading update

for the 20 week period to 20 January 2024

 

Good start to the financial year. Strong momentum in Travel with revenue up
16%(1)

 

Commenting on today's announcement, Carl Cowling, Group Chief Executive said:

 

"I am pleased with the start to the financial year. Our Travel business is
growing strongly across all our divisions and we have seen a notably strong
performance in the UK, our largest division, with total revenue up 15% and
like-for-like revenue up 14%.

 

"During the period, we successfully opened our largest UK Travel store at
Birmingham airport - a one-stop-shop for travel essentials - and we have
received very positive feedback from both landlord and customers.

 

"We continue to make excellent progress in North America, and I am
particularly excited by the substantial growth opportunities that exist in
this market. We are on track to open over 50 new stores in North America this
financial year.

 

"In total, we are on track to open over 110 stores this financial year.

 

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire team, and in
particular, our store colleagues who have worked exceptionally hard serving
our customers across the globe during this period.

 

"The Group is trading well and is in its strongest ever position as a global
travel retailer. We are confident of another year of significant growth in
2024."

 

Trading Update

 

The Group has delivered a strong performance over the 20 week period with
total Group revenue up 8%, compared to the prior year. Across our global
Travel divisions, we have seen continued momentum since the start of the
financial year, resulting in a strong 20 week performance, up 16% on 2023 on a
constant currency basis. Our UK High Street division delivered a good
performance, in line with our expectations, with store like-for-like (LFL)
revenue up 1% in December.

 

                    Revenue 20 Weeks to 20 January 2024
                    Total         Total constant currency versus 2023  LFL

                    versus                                             versus

                    2023                                               2023
 UK                 15%           15%                                  14%
 North America      7%            14%                                  0%
 Rest of the World  19%           24%                                  12%

 Total Travel       13%           16%                                  10%

 High Street(2)     (4)%          (4)%                                 (3)%

 Group              8%            9%                                   5%

( )

(1) Constant currency

(2) Includes internet businesses

Travel UK

 

In Travel UK, our largest division, total revenue was up 15% compared to the
prior year for the 20 week period and up 14% on a LFL basis. We continue to
see improving passenger numbers across UK Air, a strong performance in
Hospitals, and Rail is performing well. We recently opened our largest store
in UK Travel - a 6,000 sq ft one-stop-shop format for travel essentials at
Birmingham airport. Customer and landlord reaction has been very positive.

 

Across all our channels, we continue to focus on our key growth drivers: space
growth, increasing ATV and spend per passenger, driving EBIT margins and
benefitting from the growth in passenger numbers and customers.

 

In the UK, we are on track to open 15 stores in the year across all channels,
and we expect to open 15 new stores each year over the medium term.

 

                  Revenue 20 Weeks to 20 January 2024
                  Total               LFL

                  versus              versus

                  2023                2023
 Air              14%                 14%
 Hospitals        17%                 15%
 Rail             18%                 15%

 Total Travel UK  15%                 14%

 

Travel - North America

 

Overall revenue for the 20 week period was up 14% compared to the prior year
on a constant currency basis.

 

Our core MRG airport business (which is now approximately 50% of the revenue
of our North American division) continues to perform strongly with good LFL
growth. We are seeing passenger number growth and strong demand for our travel
essentials categories. The performance of our smaller businesses, InMotion and
the resorts business in Las Vegas, has remained as we reported in November.

 

The growth opportunities in North America are substantial and there is a good
pipeline of tenders. We have a strong airport store opening programme in the
year with the majority of these stores due to open in the second half, as
expected. We are on target to open over 50 stores this financial year in North
America.

 

Travel - Rest of the World (ROW)

 

Total revenue for the 20 week period was up 24% on a constant currency basis,
compared to the prior year. We have seen good LFL growth across our regions.

 

In the Rest of the World, space growth opportunities continue to be
significant. We have opened the first of 6 stores at Budapest airport in the
period, and we are on track to open over 40 stores in the year.

 

High Street

 

In our UK High Street division, LFL revenue was 3% lower compared to the prior
year, in line with our expectations, with store LFL revenue down 3%. In the 4
week period to 30 December 2023, store LFL revenue was up 1%. We maintained
good stock availability and we exited Christmas with a clean stock position.
We are on track to deliver our targeted full year cost savings of £10m.

 

Outlook

We have made a good start to the financial year and, while there is some
economic uncertainty, we are confident of another year of significant growth
in 2024.

 

Interim Results Announcement

 

WH Smith PLC, the global travel retailer, will announce its 2024 Interim
results on Thursday 25 April 2024.

 

Enquiries:

 

WH Smith PLC

Nicola Hillman                         Media Relations
 
01793 563 354

Mark Boyle                              Investor Relations
 
07879 897 687

 

Brunswick

Tim
Danaher
 
020 7404 5959

 

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