Retailer WH Smith has said it is well set for the peak summer holiday season as buoyant sales across its travel sites continue to offset slower trading in its high street arm.
The group posted like-for-like sales growth of 4% for the 13 weeks to June 1, with a 5% rise across global travel stores and a 1% drop for its high street business.
But the figures showed a slowdown from the 15% sales growth notched up in the first half across its travel shops based in railway stations, airports and hospitals worldwide.
The group is coming up against strong comparatives from a year earlier, when trading was boosted by the rebound in global travel following the pandemic.
WH Smith said that, while sales fell overall across its UK high street business, including online, its bricks and mortar stores “performed well”, with like-for-like revenues flat over the third quarter.
Good trading momentum continues across all three travel divisions
WH Smith
It recently unveiled the next tranche of Toys R Us shops to launch within its stores over the summer as part of a tie-up with the children’s chain.
WH Smith said it has opened five Toys R Us shop-in-shops within stores and is on track to open another 25 by the end of August.
It said: “The group is well positioned as we enter our peak summer trading period.
“Good trading momentum continues across all three travel divisions and we are in a strong position to capitalise on substantial growth opportunities across our markets.”
WH Smith said its aim to become a “one-stop-shop” for travel essentials is continuing to bear fruit, with UK travel site sales up 8% on a comparable store basis.
This includes growth of 8% in airports, 14% in hospitals and 8% in railway stations.
Like-for-like travel sales remained flat across its North American chain and were 7% higher in the rest of the world division, but, stripping out currency effects, total sales were 5% and 16% higher across these businesses respectively.