WH Smith (SMWH) has raised around £165.9m from investors after issuing 15.8m shares at 1,050p a share. The retailer faces a collapse in footfall owing to coronavirus, particularly in airports.
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WH Smith announced that it had already secured fresh borrowing facilities of £120m, but that this arrangement was conditional on the group raising new equity via the placing.
The new funds “will mean that investors can look forward and not over their shoulders at the debt position,” Peel Hunt analysts wrote before the placing was carried out, estimating that WH Smith has a yearly cash burn of £30m to £40m, giving the company “the best part of a year’s headroom”.
