Southern rail strikes and fog at London airports may have stymied some Britons’ travel plans but they did no harm to WH Smith. Much of its outperformance in sales and profits came from its travel division — stores in railway stations, airports and hospitals (The Times £)

However, most of the papers focus on the boom in adult parody books and how that has given a boost to WH Smith. A spoof revival of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books – including ‘Five on Brexit Island’ – cheered Christmas sales for WH Smith, writes The Daily Mail. A comic revival of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five characters gave WH Smith reason for cheer over the key festive trading period, says The Guardian.

Books such as the Enid Blyton parody ‘Five on Brexit Island’ and ‘the Ladybird Book of the Hipster’ were key drivers for the FTSE 250 company, writes The Telegraph. While even the FT writes: “Rising demand for literary parodies such as the Ladybirds for Grown-Ups series and Enid Blyton’s Five on Brexit Island story is helping to offset waning interest in adult colouring books” (The Financial Times £).

The FT’s Lombard column writes of WH Smith: ”While the rising cost of beer and fags is largely driven by tax, the price of WH Smith’s sweets, foods and gift items reflects its own rising volumes and widening profit margin” - it adds that unlike most retailers Christmas is not peak trading for the retailer’s travel division, so “Christmas could come early” and boost profits next summer. (The Financial Times £)

Elsewhere, Scotch whisky creates almost £5bn a year for the UK economy, a study says. Research commissioned by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) found that the industry supports more than 40,000 jobs across Britain. It was also the biggest net contributor to the UK’s trade in goods in 2015 said the study, published as drinkers raised a dram on Burns Night yesterday. (The Daily Mail)

Julie Hesketh-Laird, interim chief executive of the SWA, said that recent duty freezes and reduction had contributed to the increase in the Treasury’s tax take from the spirits industry. She believes that a 2% cut would provide further confidence to those operating in the industry at a time when there is a great deal of political uncertainty and concerns over rising costs. (The Times £)

Factories have started 2017 on the front foot, with total orders climbing to their highest level in nearly two years and optimism about future prospects surging well above average. The CBI industrial trends survey found that a balance of 5 per cent of companies had a rise in orders in January, the best reading in 23 months. (The Times £)

Shares in Restaurant Group fell more than 10% in early trading on Wednesday, after the owner of the Garfunkel’s and Chiquito chains reported a drop in sales and warned of rising costs this year (The Financial Times £). The scale of the challenge facing the new chief executive of The Restaurant Group was made starkly clear yesterday when Andy McCue, who replaced Danny Breithaupt in the job in September, called it “a turnaround situation” (The Times £). The owner of Frankie & Benny’s and Chiquito is to shake up its ailing brands after it saw stumbling sales worsen in the last quarter - and has also warned on rising costs (Sky News).

Topics