WH Smith to cut up to 1,500 jobs as coronavirus pandemic hammers sales

WH Smith has said it could cut as many as 1,500 jobs as the coronavirus pandemic had a "significant impact" on its business.

The newsagent, which traces its history back more than 200 years, unveiled restructure plans on Wednesday after taking a huge hit to sales as less people visited high streets and train stations where most of its shops are located.

Revenues at WH Smith's stores dropped more than 80 per cent during the height of lockdown and remained 57 per cent down in July.

WH Smith group chief executive, Carl Cowling, commented: “Covid-19 continues to have a significant impact on the WH Smith Group. Throughout the pandemic, we have responded quickly and taken decisive actions to protect the business including substantially strengthening our financial position. We have also welcomed support from Government where available.

“In our Travel business, while we are beginning to see early signs of recovery in some of our markets, the speed of recovery continues to be slow. At the same time, while there has been some progress in our High Street business, it does continue to be adversely affected by low levels of footfall. As a result, we now need to take further action to reduce costs across our businesses. I regret that this will have an impact on a significant number of colleagues whose roles will be affected by these necessary actions, and we will do everything we can to support them at this challenging time."

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