WH Smith reports positive first half results but warns it will be "very different" for the rest of the year

A UK retailer has reported an increase in revenue and trading for the first half of the year despite restrictions caused by the pandemic.

WH Smith announced today that its revenue increased by 7 per cent, with its travel business’ revenue rising by 19 per cent.

The results cover the period up until the end of February, meaning that lockdown in the UK had not yet started.

The company has said that although there was “very little” impact on its results for the first half of the year due to lockdown, the second half of the year will likely be heavily affected.

Carl Cowling, group chief executive, commented: “The emergence of COVID-19 and the associated global pandemic has affected all of us in ways that were unimaginable only a short while ago.

“I have enormous admiration for how our colleagues across WH Smith have responded to these unprecedented times and I would like to thank them all.

“Our primary focus over the past eight weeks has been to protect our colleagues across all areas of our business and our customers.

“We have supported many good causes and we have kept over 300 stores open to serve the communities that most need our services at this critical time, including the NHS and the communities that rely on the Post Office services we provide on the high street.

“There was very little impact of COVID-19 on our first half results, however inevitably the performance in the second half will be very different.

“During the first half, we continued to see strong sales growth in our travel business with total revenue up 19 per cent, driven by our ongoing investment and initiatives in our UK business and our growing international businesses.

“Trading profit in the first half was up 11 per cent. Our recently acquired US business, MRG, continued to perform well and maintained its momentum of securing significant tender wins across major US airports.

“Our high street business also performed well delivering trading profit of £44m in the period.

“Since March, we have seen a significant impact on our business as a result of COVID-19, with the majority of our stores closed around the world.

“We were fast to react to the situation and issued new equity via a placing, raising c.£162m on 6 April 2020. We also secured an additional £120m of bank funding.

“We are a resilient and versatile business and with the operational actions we have taken including managing costs and the new financing arrangements, we are in a strong position to navigate this time of uncertainty and are well positioned to benefit in due course from the normalisation and growth of our key markets.”