WH Smith braced for a competitive Christmas
RETAILER WH Smith yesterday said it remains cautious about trading in the run up to Christmas after reporting a decline in sales in the first 10 weeks of the financial year.
Total group sales in the period to 7 November dipped one per cent compared to the same period last year, while like-for-like sales at WH Smith Travel stores slid two per cent over the period.
The high street sector saw the worst performance as like-for-like sales dropped four per cent, although the retailer reported that the figures were in line with its overall expectations.
WH Smith said: “We continue to focus on delivering our strategy to rebalance the mix of our business towards our core categories.”
The company has followed up on its October 2009 announcement to return up to £35m of cash to shareholders via a rolling share buyback programme. It has purchased approximately 1.1m shares to date at an average price of 503.905p.
Despite WH Smith’s anticipation of competitive trading over the Christmas period, the retailer said it has planned to cope with the markets accordingly.
Singer Capital Markets analyst Matthew McEachran said: “The company’s defensive, low-ticket product offering is proving resilient.”