WH Smith’s Travel Division sales grew by 4% in its 2014 financial year as it added a further 30 ‘Travel’ outlets.

 

The new additional outlets will bring the total number of international outlets to 165 when they are all open and this includes UK railway stations. At the same time, pre-tax profits for the group’s full year to 31 August were £112m ($180m), up 9% on the previous year.

 

Commenting on the results, Stephen Clarke Group CEO said: “The Group has delivered a strong performance with EPS up 18% year on year. The distinct strategies for each of our businesses continue to deliver good profit growth.

 

‘RECORD YEAR IN ‘TRAVEL’

“We had another record year in Travel, with profits up 11% to £73m ($117m) driven by an increase in total sales of 4% and continued improvement in like-for-like sales, which were up 1% in the second half.”

 

The company added: “We continue to invest in the business and we opened 30 new units in the UK during the year, taking us to a total of 596 units in this country. We won a further 30 units in our international channel

in the year, making a total of 165 units won in this channel, of which 138 are open.”

 

By contrast, the company’s UK High Street business saw profits increase by 4% to £58m ($93.2m) which the company says endorses its profit focused strategy. The company has also announced today a further share buy back of up to £50m ($80.4m) and a 14% increase in the full-year dividend.