WH Smith to reveal worst results - report

Retailer WH Smith is set to unveil the worst results in its history this week, it was claimed today.

The high street group, which has lost sales to supermarket rivals in recent years, is expected to turn in record full year losses of more than £100m (€144.6m), according to a report by The Observer.

It is believed like-for-like sales – which strip out new store openings – will be in negative territory and that the dividend paid to investors will be slashed by around 30%.

One analyst told the newspaper that people would be wondering whether WH Smith’s “out-of-date” format was capable of long-term survival.

WH Smith has been struggling to compete with other high street chains such as Waterstones and HMV, as well as supermarkets, which have stocking more and more non-food items.

Smiths announced in April that its high street shops had delivered an “unacceptable” performance as half-yearly profits plunged 29%.

All eyes will be on chief executive Katie Swann when the group posts its results on Thursday.

Ms Swann – who has been at the helm nearly a year – embarked on a turnaround strategy earlier this year, pledging to overhaul stores to boost core ranges of stationery, cards, books and magazines. She said WH Smith was becoming a “substantially simplified and refocused group”.

The change in focus came after the collapse of a potential takeover by private equity group Permira.

The proposed £850m (€1,229m) deal fell through after Permira was unable to overcome concerns over cash injections into the WH Smith pension fund.

WH Smith later said it had agreed to sell its Hodder Headline book publishing arm for £223m (€322.5m) to French publishing house Hachette Books, in a move it hoped would help simplify the structure of the group.