You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
W H Smith has told retail analysts that book sales fell by 4% over the Christmas trading period.
The retailer announced its trading performance for the 11 and 21 weeks to 23rd January on Wednesday. Group total sales were down by 2% with like-for-like sales down 4% for the 21-week period. It described the performance as “good” with an increase in gross margin and “tightly controlled” costs.
Nick Bubb, retail analyst at Arden Partners, said: "Overall, it was a typically solid performance in terms of bottom line. It is very calculated at balancing margin and managing costs."
WHS’ book performance outstrips that of the wider high street. According to Nielsen BookScan’s General Retail Market, a good indicator of high street performance, sales fell by 9.5% in the 11 weeks to 23rd January.
Bubb added: "It was definitely a better performance than Waterstone’s although the conditions it traded in were not dissimilar. Borders wouldn’t have helped although they would have been more a threat to Waterstone’s, given its offer."
Chief executive Kate Swann told http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE60Q1NN20100127" target="_blank" title="Reuters">http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE60Q1NN20100127">Reuters that she had no active plans to demerge the travel business from its high street arm, although the move could happen in the future, its chief executive said. "There are absolutely no plans to do it. It is not on my list of things to do," Kate Swann told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday. "However, if at some point it makes sense and we thought it would create value, then we want to leave that option open," she said.