WH Smith sales fall in line with strategy

11th Nov 2010 08:02

Newsagent chain WH Smith saw lower sales in its High Street and Travel divisions in the period between 1 September and 6 November, though this is in line with expectations as the company has been focusing on margins rather than sales.Total sales were down by 2% compared with the same period the previous year. Like-for-like sales in the travel division, which includes shops in railway stations and airports, were down by 1%. High Street like-for-like sales fell by 4%.'We continue to focus on delivering our strategy to rebalance the mix of our business towards our core categories,' the company said.In line with its plans to return £50m to shareholders announced alongside its full-year results last month, the company has bought 1.2m shares at about 481.3p.'We remain a resilient business and are well positioned for continued growth in the future,' WH Smith said.