WH Smith in talks to sell high street business

National newsagents chain, WHSmith, has confirmed press speculation that it is in negotiations to sell its more than 500 branches on UK high streets.

The chain, one of the UK’s oldest major retail brands, revealed it is exploring potential strategic options for its high street stores, including a possible sale, which could see the the brand disappear from town centres.

WHSmith has in recent years shifted its focus in favour of its travel business, which consists of 1,200 stores across 32 countries in airports, railway stations, hospitals and motorway services. This arm of the business accounts for three-quarters of the Group’s revenue and 85% of its trading profit. The Group as a whole was most recently valued at £1.5 billion.

Strong performance of its travel business contrasts with high street stores seeing a 9% fall in profits, a 4% fall in sales, and an increasingly negative consumer sentiment surrounding shops: s 2019 Which? survey saw consumers describe shops as ‘cramped and messy.’

News of a possible sale comes as WHSmith becomes the latest major retailer to announce store closures, with 17 stores already earmarked to shut in 2025 so far, including two in Greater Manchester in Bolton and Oldham. The chain employs 5,000 staff across its high street retail business, including in around 200 in-store Post Offices, who will now face uncertainty about the future of the jobs, although WHSmith has clarified that there is no certainty an agreement will be reached, and will share further updates “when appropriate.”

Among rumoured buyers for the chain is restructuring firm Alteri, according to The Guardian newspaper, with a number of parties in negotiations regarding a sale. The sale of the business comes 20 years after a previous attempt to sell the entire group in 2004 fell through due to a £250 million hole in WHSmith’s pension fund; the company’s defined contribution pension liabilities have since been sold to Standard Life in 2022.