Pre-tax profit at WH Smith (SMWH) was bang in line with market forecasts in the first half of the company's fiscal year. The retailer made £9m of cost savings in its high-street division, offsetting declining sales, while trading in the travel division picked up.
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A 6 per cent slide in underlying high-street sales reflected partly a lack of best-selling novels over Christmas, but also a generally challenging market. However, a 220 basis-point gross-margin improvement - driven by product mix, better markdown management and streamlining operations -boosted trading profit by 2 per cent to £49m. A further £5m of savings will come in the second half.