WH Smith is in talks to sell its entire high street business in Britain after 233 years.
The retailer, which is said to be worth almost £1.5 billion, has secretly been in talks with prospective buyers for weeks, Sky News reports.
WH Smith, which sells stationary, books, and is home to many UK post offices, has round 500 stores in Britain and employs 5,000 people across the country.
The talks relate only to high street stores and not shops which are part of the firm’s travel arm – those at train stations and airports – or those in hospitals.
These amount to around 600 stores which are safe in the UK – out of 1,200 travel stores worldwide.
Although the store has typically performed poorly in customer service measures, its high street division still had a profit of £32 million last year.
But by contrast the travel arm now makes 75 percent of the brand’s revenue, and 85 percent of its profits.
Chief executive Carl Cowling is understood to be seeking buyers for the high street brand in a historic moment for British shopping – although the identity of any buyers have not been revealed.
WH Smith, which sells stationary, books, and is home to many UK post offices, has round 500 stores in Britain and employs 5,000 people across the country
WHSmith’s are typically found on high streets, as well as in stations and airports
Established in 1792, WHSmith’s first shop was opened by Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna
WH Smith opened its first store in Little Grosvenor Street, London in 1792.
The shop was run by Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna, and quickly expanded to other venues.
By 1848, the brand had opened its first travel store at Euston Station.
It comes after it was announced this week that 17 stores will be closed this year.
Those affected are in Bournemouth (two stores), Luton, March, Basingstoke, Newtown, Rhyl, Bolton, Accrington, Halstead, Halesowen, Diss, Newport (Wales), Haverhill, Stockton, Oldham and Orpington.
The retailer was voted Britain’s worst or second worst high street retailer for nine straight years from 2011 to 2019, in a poll conducted by consumer watchdog Which?.
On Friday, shares in WH Smith closed at 1148p – down around 5 percent over the last year.
This is a breaking news story and is being updated.