How much longer will WH Smith continue to squeeze a growing travel focused-business in with a declining high street newsagent is a question analysts have asked recently and often.
“Our experts say that WHSmith should look to get rid of a number of unprofitable sites and move into smaller stores elsewhere,” said Zainab Atiyyah, at research house Third Bridge.
“WHSmith’s UK high street retail business is slowly dying. Very few people go to the high street to buy small value items such as stationery anymore. They are under massive pressure from online retailers such as Amazon.”
Smith though seems happy with the arrangement, so expect it to report a pattern similar to its quarter to January.
That saw revenue in travel bounce back 41% from a year earlier but the high street stores dip 2%.
Shares at 1,531p are almost a quarter below their level five years ago, but the impression is that doing something different to rectify that is not high on the agenda.
Half-year results are due tomorrow, Thursday, 20 April.