WH Smith’s high street business sold to Modella Capital for £76 million
WH Smith has agreed to sell its high street business to Modella Capital, the owner of Hobbycraft, as it looks to focus on global travel retail.
The business currently employs 5,000 staff members in around 480 stores and its Swindon support centre.
All stores, colleagues, assets and liabilities of the business will move under Modella Capital’s ownership and will be led by Sean Toal, the current chief executive of the high street business.
It will continue to operate for a short transitional period under the WH Smith brand while it rebrands as TG Jones.
Never Miss a Retail Update!WH Smith has been steadily increasing its focus on travel, with 75% of the group’s revenue and 85% of its trading profit coming from its business in the last financial year.
The WH Smith brand is not included in the sale as the retailer’s travel divisions will continue to trade across 32 countries and including at major airport locations, hospitals and rail stations in the UK.
Carl Cowling, WH Smith group chief executive, said: “As we continue to deliver on our strategic ambition to become the leading global travel retailer, this is a pivotal moment for WH Smith as we become a business exclusively focused on travel.
“We have a highly successful travel business, operating in fast growing markets in 32 countries and we are constantly innovating to deliver strong returns and meet our customers’ and partners’ needs.
“With the ongoing strength in our UK travel division, and the scale of the growth opportunities in both North America and the rest of the world, we are in our strongest ever position to deliver enhanced growth as we move forward as a pure play travel retailer”.
