Buy one, get one half price. It’s not just WH Smith’s perennial sale on paperbacks, but a way of explaining the retailer’s record-breaking share price. While the FTSE 250 stock already trades at a slightly higher level than the average high street retailer, bulls believe that it should be valued as a business led by its more lucrative travel division.
It’s probably not what trade ministers have in mind when they champion Britain’s best and brightest exports, but WH Smith’s colouring pencils and giant chocolate bars are spreading steadily throughout the world. The 225-year-old retailer now stretches as far as Singapore’s Changi airport, with international sales growing by 10 per cent in the first half of the year. The group has almost 200 outlets overseas