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This business shouldn't be forcing employees to work in a bloody airport and high streets. They declared themselves as an essential business to milk more profit, but that means staff have to take unpaid leave if they want to avoid the danger of infection or worried about at risk family members. Check twitter comments. This business will never recover.
how is posting analyst predictions deramping??
we're heading into a ****storm of job losses over the next few months.
The mattwales bot has been cut-and-pasting deramping posts all over the shop. Hmmmmm...
2nd quarter estimates:
UK GDP MINUS 30%
EUROZONE MINUS 22%
US MINUS 14%
Hit anything like those figures mass unemployment.
Only an onlooker here, but hope that TU only 6 days ago doesn’t prove too optimistic as a lots happened since.
Prediction way off. Down 44% in 4 trading days WOW
Easy to see another 20% coming off this. Bl00dy nightmare. New prediction £11.
This is tanking WAY lower than 1700 the way international travel, cornavirus and the wider economy/stock market is looking. I was in Manchester Airport recently and the place was dead.
Nearly there (1700). Markets starting to realise the threat to the travel outlets which have a much lower footfall and this is likely to continue for a good while. Flybe has pretty much closed many regional airports and flying in general is at a low.
The travel wing of WH Smith is what makes the profit. If this virus continues to spread around the globe this SP will be decimated. Air travel already massively down. I fear this has a big drop ahead.
SP will go sub 1700. Travel outlets will be hit as travel restrictions and sporting events, etc cancelled and passenger numbers fall. Pandemic announcement inevitable.
Can Thursday’s interim results give WH Smith a bookish boost?
There is now always a relative sense of predictability about WH Smith’s statements: Travel does well, High Street doesn’t. The nuance tends to lie in how good and how bad. For the 20 week period to January 19th, total sales at the Travel business were up a very healthy 16% following the acquisition of the US travel retailer InMotion, with like-for-likes rising 3%; High Street, meanwhile, saw total sales tumble a manageable 1%, alongside a 2% dip in comparable sales. This left WH Smith with a 6% increase in overall sales and a flat LFL performance.
A similar set of figures on Thursday may be enough to satisfy investors, while they’ll want to hear further details of the InMotion integration and plans for the US as a whole. And for reference, at the midway point last year, WH Smith posted a 1% decline in group pre-tax profit to £82 million, so an improvement on that could be the key if the stock wants to keep climbing towards £23-plus all-time peak.
Read what Spreadex analysts have to say, or watch a 60 second earnings preview video, here: https://spreadex.com/?tid=389538
Cant believe we are back up here again...on what is hot air...looking at the technicals this is an absolute short- if only I was allowed to!! :/
Went into one of their stores the other day...what a load of rubbish..and still more of a pile 'em high sweet shop than anything else.
And then, along came InMotion. WHS SP = 1850.
is the only thing propping this up....good yield but waaay too risky to buy for that....I wont be surprised to see this sink to a tenner and some more -
Bizarre comment , the "travel" section is up 7%.
It was only a matter of time. Rubbish shops and rip off travel outlets at airports and stations. Public have wised up.
At last the BOD have realized that what they need to do is open a branch in every big railway station and airport in Europe and sell candy bars bottles of Pop cheese sanwitches fit £6 and Hello magazine. That’s what the punters want 👍
up 7% to 2108 it is utterly staggering....If I was allowed to short this would be toast
How does this company survive and today up almost 2% at >�20/share...??? The stores are boring, products uninspiring...ok they sell books and now have post offices on their estate...but where on earth is the growth coming from- stationery??...bygone retailer worth shorting all the way down.
WH Smiths (unlike Woolworths) have turned their business around when others have gone bust. And in the last ten years they achieved the following: A. They saw operating margins increase by 3-fold (from 3.3% to 11%). It helped to boost operating profits from £47m to £133m. B. It manages to maintain free cash flow to operating cash flow at 70%, this plays a crucial in dividends and share buybacks. C. The number of shares outstanding fell from 183m to 112m, which helped boost the share price by an extra £6 per share. D. Using EV/EBIT ratio, it stands at 13 times, which is twice their normal average. One big reason for Smiths success is down to its travel division. Rail has enjoyed their revival, see chart: http://bit.ly/2sq3Chh Air travel has been going from strength to strength, see here: http://bit.ly/2rHhesl However, there some concerns and one big factor is the decline of its inventory turnover from 5.7x to 3.45x. That leads to longer holding period. But the major findings from Smiths is the bizarre retail coverage of its high-street division. That division saw revenue declined from £1.1bn to £630m in the past decade. But, it's “Sq. ft.” coverage is hovering at 2.8m, slightly lower than 3m (2006). While, at the same time, its store numbers rose from 543 to 612. To me, Smiths valuation is high. And with analysts pencilling in £1.05 per share in earnings for 2017 and £1.09 per share for 2018. The earnings per share growth are small if we factor in share buybacks. If enjoy these facts, why not see it in chart form and with added explanation. http://bit.ly/2rnbuRr
Am running the London marathon on Sunday for the animal hope and wellness foundation which saves dogs from being tortured, boiled alive, burnt alive in the Asian dog meat trade please donate would be GREATLY APPRECIATED at Neil beedie just giving. Thank you :)
Why would anyone own this? Just another British high street name that is hanging on, and while not yet on life support, it is only a matter of time. As shorts go this is a gift that will keep on giving
While most retailers were getting crushed by online businesses and the supermarkets, WH Smith survives. Not only that it has thrived by delivering shareholders a return of 480% capital gains since its lows in March 2009. So, what is the secret of its success? 1. Closing down unprofitable retail stores and growing its travel division stores, whereby it has improved its margins. http://imgur.com/yAvdAbj 2. Its action has improved the company's margins. http://imgur.com/b7M0iWD 3. WH pays a 3% dividend yield last year, but if you include share buyback that jumps to 5.68%. However, it was less impressive than four years ago, as it totals 14%. Though the number of shares you hold has gone down! 4. A good indicator of a sustainable business is to look at its financing section in cash flow statement because if it’s positive, the company is raising debt or equity. If negative it is paying off debt or returning money to shareholders. http://imgur.com/F4ubZbz Hope thses points help you decide if WH Smiths is worth a look at.
Major buying opportunity at these levels I'm