‘Fifty Shades’ helps whip up profit for WH Smith

The Fifty Shades blockbuster trilogy, which sold 100m copies, contributed to the Irish arm of WH Smith almost tripling pre-tax profits last year to €1.542m.

New figures lodged with the Companies Office show that WH Smith Ireland Ltd recorded the 185% increase in pre-tax profits as sales increased by 7% from €10.9m to €11.62m in the 12 months to the end of August 31, 2013.

The accounting period covers four months during 2012 when the Fifty Shades series was the publishing sensation of the year.