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WH Smith (SMWH) has announced this morning it is on track to meet market expectations for its full-year trading after strong performance in its travel division and profit improvement on the high street.
In a pre-close trading update for the year to 31 August 2016, WH Smith said it expects its perforamnce “to be in line with expectations”.
The company its travel business “continues to perform strongly with good sales across all of our channels”.
“The new store opening programme both in the UK and internationally is on track. We have been pleased with the customer reaction to our recently opened stores in Alicante airport in Spain, and we continue to see further opportunities in the international news, books and convenience travel market.”
WH Smith PLC expects the outcome for the year to 31 August 2016 to be in line with expectations.”as we annualised a strong performance last year driven by colour therapy for adults”.
“We continue to deliver gross margin improvements and cost savings in line with our profit focused strategy,” it stated.
The retailer will deliver its full year results on 13 October.
WH Smith shares are up 0.9% to 1,605p so far this morning.
Morning update
Greene King (GNK) has released its Leisure Spend Tracker for August this morning, which reveals that many British households are worried about the economic impact of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.
Following the result in June, a third of respondents (33%) say they expect their household’s financial situation to be worse off this time next year, while only 8% think that there will be an improvement in their prospects. This is especially true amongst younger adults, with 35% of 18 to 34 year olds admitting to be worried about their future finances.
There is also some concern about the wider UK economy, with almost half (47%) of respondents stating that they believe it will contract in the next year.
In July, the average British household spent £209 on out of home leisure, a 2% (£3) increase year-on-year and a marginal (£1) increase month-on-month.
Spending on eating out continues to perform strongly with an 8% increase year-on-year and a 3% increase on June. The latter was supported by a 19%, or £17, increase in monthly spending by households with kids, as families dined out during the school holidays.
The FTSE 100 has slipped 0.2% to 6,858.1pts so far this morning.
Early risers include McColls (MCLS), up 2.4% to 168p, Ocado (OCDO), up 2.2% to 297.6p and Applegreen (APGN), up 1.9% to 378.1p.
Fallers include CARR’s (CARR), down 2% to 144p, PureCircle (PURE), down 1.4% to 315.7p and Tesco (TSCO), down 1.1% to 164.4p.
Yesterday in the City
The FTSE 100 was up 0.6% yesterday to 6,869pts, partly thanks to a rally amongst the supermarkets after the release of market share data from Nielsen and Kantar Worldpanel.
Nielsen found that during the four weeks ending 13 August 2016, the value of sales was up 0.9% against the same period a year ago - representing the best growth figures for almost three years.
Tesco (TSCO) was a best performer for the big four and its share price jumped 4.3% to 166.3p on the back of the news.
The more positive food retail figures also helped Sainsbury’s (SBRY) up 1.3% to 244.9p and Morrisons (MRW) up 0.7% to 198.2p. Booker (BOK) was also up 2.2% to 180.3p and B&M European Value Retail (BME) up 1.4% to 282.7p.
Also on the rise were Greencore (GNC), up 1.4% to 358p and Hotel Chocolat (HOTC), uip 3.5% to 210p.
Fallers included Dairy Crest (DCG), down 1.1% to 651p, Cranswick (CWK) down 0.9% to 2,311p and British American Tobacco (BATS), down 0.8% to 4,850.5p.
Also falling were Hilton Food Group (HFG), down 1.7% to 58-p, Stock Spirits (STCK), down 2.4% to 170.5p and McColl’s (MCLS) down 2.8% to 164p.
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