‘Fifty Shades’ helps whip up profit for WH Smith
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.
Nielsen figures for Ireland in 2012 show that Fifty Shades dominated the Irish book charts for the highest earning writers, recording €2.8m in sales.
The first book in the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy had sales of €967,315 in Ireland in 2012, the highest ever here for an adult book in a single year — a movie version of the book, starring Northern Ireland actor, James Dornan is slated for release next year.
Other bestsellers to contribute to WH Smith’s revenues last year include Jeff Kinney’s Hard Luck from the Wimpy Kid series; Inferno by Dan Brown and Booker-nominated, Donal Ryan’s The Spinning Heart.
WH Smith currently operates 11 stores in Ireland with eight based at Dublin Airport, four located in Terminal One and four at Terminal Two.
The bookseller also operates one shop at Arnotts and stores at Shannon Airport.
The 2013 accounts show that the firm’s steep increase in pre-tax profits arose from the firm’s administrative expenses decreasing sharply from €4.73m to €3.7m.
The figures show that the amount spent on operating leases last year reduced from €2.9m to €2.68m. The profit last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €344,916.
Numbers employed by the firm last year increased from 52 to 55, with staff costs last year rising from €1.15m to €1.18m.
The profit last year resulted in the firm’s accumulated loss of €42,728 becoming an accumulated profit of €1.315m. The firm’s cash declined from €819,233 to €578,226.
The firm increased its gross profit from €5.3m to €5.73m after the firm’s cost of sales increased from €5.59m to €5.89m.
The firm recorded post-tax profits of €1.358m after incurring a tax charge of €184,552.
In 2009, WH Smith opened its first two stores at Shannon Airport before opening its outlets in Dublin Airport.
