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Business News Retail
Smiths say all OK despite sales decline
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 28 January 2009
I know someone who’s running a book on how long it will be until WH Smiths goes into administration, given all the high street doom and gloom, though presumably their network of railway station stores help prop things up.
And the boss of the books and mags and CDs and stationery seller insisted everything was going OK yesterday, despite a drop in like for like sales of 5% over the Christmas period compared to the previous year.
CEO Kate Swann told reporters: “As anticipated, trading conditions on the high street were challenging over the Christmas period. However, we continue to successfully deliver our strategy and maintain operational flexibility, increasing gross margins and accelerating our cost reduction plans. Looking ahead, we expect consumer spending in our markets to remain subdued and we have planned accordingly”.
So there you go. Do people still count Smiths as record sellers? The last one I went in seemed to be selling about 14 CDs. Oh well, I guess we should continue to report on them anyhow. Just for old time’s sake.
