It’s a tricky weekend for a retail stock tip, but here goes.
WH Smith has been impressively resilient in the midst of the high street bloodbath of the past decade, offsetting the declines in its shabby shops with gains from a burgeoning travel business. But the spread of coronavirus rapidly turned that strength into a weakness.
Last week, WH Smith, led by Carl Cowling since November, became the first retailer forced into a profit warning by the outbreak, projecting that the pandemic would wipe £30m-£40m off this year’s underlying pre-tax profits, now expected to come in at about £130m.
The combination of Donald Trump’s suspension of flights into America from 26 European countries and the inevitable decline in footfall on the high street could mean