Update Wh Smith Family Christmas Cards Review – WH Smith said it will renegotiate leases on 120 stores this year and another 300 will come up for renewal over the next three years. Photo: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images
WH Smith is to close 25 high street stores, affecting almost 200 jobs, after the coronavirus pandemic pushed the £280m retailer into the red.
Update Wh Smith Family Christmas Cards Review
On the books for the paper clip chain, it said it was likely to close its mostly smaller stores permanently, after sales at its high street business fell 19%.
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However, the group’s previously successful travel shops – stations, airports and hospitals – are taking a turn for the worse. They reported a 43% drop in sales in the year to August 31.
The company, which operates more than 1,000 UK stores and more than 500 overseas, said: “Whilst this is not an easy decision for our colleagues or the communities we serve, it is imperative that we remain strong and cash on a generative high. The Street portfolio is moving forward. .toward the future.
It plans to renegotiate lease terms on 120 stores this year and has another 300 up for renewal over the next three years. Leases renewed in the past year have agreed to an average rent reduction of 45%.
WH Smith also canceled a final dividend worth £47m last year, as it is expected to burn through £20m of cash in November alone during the UK high street lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The group has scrapped its semi-annual dividend which it is now paying to shareholders this year.
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The latest job cuts are among 1,500 jobs announced by WH Smith in August – about 15% of the company’s 14,000-strong global workforce – at stores located in train stations and airports.
WH Smith said it spent £21m on restructuring and redundancy costs during the year and another £4m on exits from France and joint ventures in Brazil as a result of the pandemic.
Despite £22m from the UK government’s Job Retention Scheme and similar schemes in other countries, and £20m from the UK – the one-off costs helped make an annual loss of £280m – down from a profit of more than £100m last year. Holiday Business Rate.
Carl Cowling, chief executive of WH Smith, said: “Before the Covid-19 outbreak the group performed well in the first half and delivered strong sales. Since March, we have been affected by the pandemic.”
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Cowling said WH Smith had enjoyed strong trading in October, with Christmas card sales up 50%, but the November lockdown was likely to be difficult.
“We can stay open as a newsagent but it’s still not good for us because the high street is down a lot,” Cowling said. He said the retailer was preparing for queues of shoppers in December, when most stores are set to reopen under the government’s latest virus controls, and supported calls from the likes of Primark and Marks & Spencer for extended trading hours next month.
“The busier [in December] you can add 10% to 20% to that,” Cowling said.
He added that, with passenger numbers at UK train stations and airports falling significantly, WH Smith’s North American business – where 85% of air travelers are domestic – was “showing some encouraging signs of recovery”.
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He said he was continuing to open new stores at US airports but admitted that by August next year UK travel store sales may recover to only 60% of pre-Covid levels while high street sales are still down 14%.
Cowling said WH Smith had a “robust plan” focused on cost management and had enough cash to survive two more months of lockdown in the UK.
“We are a flexible and agile business. The actions we have taken have put us in a strong position to navigate through this period of uncertainty and will benefit when our markets start to grow again,” he said. “Meaningful statistics relating to or related to our loyal customer base”
WH Smith is ranked below Kang? High Street Retailer Survey for the past nine years (Image: PA)
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WH Smith has been voted the UK’s ‘worst’ high street store for the second year running in its annual survey, Which?
Customers slammed WH Smith for poor value for money, service and in-store experience, criticizing the store as “cramped and cluttered”.
WH Smith received a 50 per cent customer score, with Homebase/Bunnings at the bottom with 53pc, with Sports Direct scoring 54pc. Meanwhile, John Lewis and Richer Sora scored more runs than expected.
A WH Smith spokesman said: “This survey … is not statistically relevant or meaningful to our loyal customer base.
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“Every week we serve three million customers across our 600 UK high street stores and maintain our presence on the high street where many other retailers are closing stores. We work hard to improve the customer experience and continue to invest in new and existing stores. “
A number of book signings including Calum Best and Danny Dyer at WH Smith in Manchester (Image: Manchester Evening News)
Shopkeepers said? Key Homebase / Bunnings was difficult to navigate and “difficult to find anything on crowded shelves” and “difficult to find staff for guidance”.
On the other hand, customers praise Richer Sounds for their in-store experience, shoppers buying their cars or retailers appreciating services that pay for customer parking.
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The only general retailer to top the leaderboard was John Lewis, which customers praised as having “helpful staff and well laid out stores with good parking” for “reliable stores and products I can trust”.
Which one The magazine’s editor Harry Rose said: “Anxieties about the future of the high street will not go away any time soon, but it is clear that there is demand from shoppers for experiences and services offered by physical stores that cannot always be replicated online.
“Providing a great in-store customer experience is more important than ever if brands are to thrive on the high street. Our findings show that if retailers can offer great value, quality products and first-class customer service, customers will keep coming back.”
A WH Smith parody account was set up on Twitter to poke fun at the high-street retailer, including confusing discount offers, as well as documenting carpets in several WH Smith stores.
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