WH Smith eyes competitive Christmas

12th Nov 2009 08:44

WH Smith said trading in the current year has started in line with market expectations but the magazine and book retailer said it remains cautious ahead of a competitive Christmas trading period. In the first ten weeks of the financial year group sales fell 1% compared to the same period last year.WH Smith Travel like-for-like sales were down 2%, in line with company expectations. "Although passenger numbers in Air remain soft, we are well placed to benefit when passenger numbers recover," it said.WH Smith High Street like-for-like sales fell 4% in the period from 1 September to 7 November 2009, again, in line with expectations. "We continue to focus on delivering our strategy to rebalance the mix of our business towards our core categories," it said.