WH Smith PLC
Type	PLC (LSE: SMWH)
Founded	London (1792)
Headquarters	Swindon, Wiltshire, England
Key people	Henry Walton Smith, Founder Robert Walker, Chairman Kate Swann, Chief Executive Officer
Industry	Retail
Revenue	▲ £2. A Public Limited Company ( PLC, plc or plc or p l c is a type of Limited company in the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland which is The London Stock Exchange or LSE is a Stock exchange located in London, England. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Year 1792 ( MDCCXCII) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Swindon ( is a large town in the ceremonial county of Wiltshire in the South West of England, midway between Bristol (64 km / 40 miles Etymology The county formerly 'Wiltonshire' or 'Wiltunscir' (9th century is named after the former county town of Wilton (itself named after the River Wylye England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Robert Walker may refer to Robert Walker (painter (1599-1658 English painter associated with 57 portraits Robert J Kathryn Elizabeth Swann (born Kathryn Elizabeth Prior 1964 Bishop's Stortford Hertfordshire) is a British retail executive For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" In business revenue or revenues is Income that a company receives from its normal business activities usually from the sale of goods and services 5 billion GBP (2005)
Employees	23,120 (2005)
Website	www.whsmithplc.co.uk (corporate) www.whsmith.co.uk (retail)

The entrance to a small WH Smith store at York railway station

This article is about the retail chain; for people of that name, see William Henry Smith. The Pound Sterling ( symbol £; ISO code: GBP) subdivided into 100 pence (singular penny) is the Currency Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages This article is about a railway station in England For the similarly named subway station in Brooklyn, New York City, see York Street (IND Sixth Avenue William Henry Smith is the name of at least three famous people William Henry Smyth (astronomer (1788-1865 William Henry Smith (businessman

W H Smith plc (known colloquially as Smiths) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, Wiltshire. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Swindon ( is a large town in the ceremonial county of Wiltshire in the South West of England, midway between Bristol (64 km / 40 miles Etymology The county formerly 'Wiltonshire' or 'Wiltunscir' (9th century is named after the former county town of Wilton (itself named after the River Wylye It is best known for its chain of high street, railway station, airport, and now motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, and entertainment products. High Street, or the High Street, is a Metonym for the generic name (and frequently the official name of the primary Business street |}A train station, railway station, railroad station, or station yard is a facility at which Passengers may board and alight from Trains An airport is a location where Aircraft such as airplanes, Helicopters and blimps take off and land Motorway is a term for both a type of Road and a classification or designation A Book is a set or collection of written printed illustrated or blank sheets made of Paper, Parchment, or other material usually fastened together Stationery has historically meant a wide gamut of materials Paper and Office supplies, Writing implements Greeting cards etc Magazines, periodicals or serials are Publications generally published on a regular schedule containing a variety of articles, generally A newspaper is a written Publication containing News, information and Advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called Newsprint. It was a major distributor of newspapers and magazines (demerged in September 2006 as Smiths News plc), and formerly owned publishing businesses, and a number of other retail chains in the United Kingdom, North America, and the Pacific Rim. Smiths News plc ( is a British newspaper and magazine distributor based in Swindon, England. Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of Literature or Information &ndash the activity of making information available for public view The Pacific Rim refers to the countries and cities located around the edge of the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the FTSE 250 Index. The FTSE 250 Index (ˈfʊtsiː footsie) is a capitalisation -weighted index of 250 companies on the London Stock Exchange.

History

WH Smith's HQ building in Swindon

The initial foundations of the business which became W H Smith was the founding of a newsagency service for the public by Henry Everett and William Smith in 1790. This article is about the retail chain for people of that name see William Henry Smith. Swindon ( is a large town in the ceremonial county of Wiltshire in the South West of England, midway between Bristol (64 km / 40 miles However Everett wished to provide an overseas service while Smith wanted to concentrate inland. Eventually this led to a parting of the ways, but each party subsequently follows their chosen path and ideas. ^[1].

In 1792 Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna established W H Smith as a news vendor business in London. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. After their deaths, the business — valued in 1812 at £1,280 — was taken over by their son William Henry Smith, and in 1846 the firm became W H Smith & Son when his son, also William Henry, became a partner. William Henry Smith ( July 7, 1792 &ndash July 28, 1865) was an Entrepreneur whose business was about both Newsagents William Henry Smith (24 June 1825 &ndash 6 October 1891 was an English bookseller and newsagent of the family firm W H Smith, who expanded the firm and introduced The firm took advantage of the railway boom by opening newsstands on railway stations, starting with Euston in 1848. This article is part of the History of rail transport by country series |}A train station, railway station, railroad station, or station yard is a facility at which Passengers may board and alight from Trains Euston station (official name London Euston) is a major Railway station to the north of central London in the London Borough of Camden They also made use of the railways to become the leading national distributor of newspapers. The younger W H Smith used the success of the firm as a springboard into politics, becoming an MP in 1868 and serving as a minister in several Conservative governments. A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a Parliament. The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is a Political party in the United Kingdom.

After the death of W H Smith the younger, his widow was created Viscountess Hambleden in her own right; their son inherited the business from his father and the Viscountcy from his mother. Viscount Hambleden, of Hambleden in the County of Buckingham is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. After the death of the second Viscount in 1928, the business was reconstituted as a limited company, in which his son, the third Viscount, owned all the ordinary shares. A limited company in the United Kingdom is a Corporation whose liability is limited by law On the death of the third Viscount in 1948, the death duties were so severe that a public holding company had to be formed and shares sold to W H Smith staff and the public. A younger brother of the third Viscount remained chairman until 1972, but the Smith family's control slipped away, and the last family member left the board in 1996.

In 1966, W H Smith originated a 9-digit code for uniquely referencing books, called Standard Book Numbering or SBN. It was adopted as international standard ISO 2108 in 1970, and was used until 1974, when it became the ISBN scheme.

WH Smith logo until the early 1990s, featuring the then-familiar 3D cube of letters.

From the 1970s, W H Smith began to expand into other areas of retail. W H Smith Travel operated from 1973 to 1991, The Do It All chain of DIY stores started with a 1979 acquisition, became a joint venture with Boots in 1990 and was sold in 1996. Do It All was a former DIY chain originally created by WH Smith in 1979 when the company acquired a DIY chain This article is about a former British company which has now merged to form Alliance Boots, as a result information on this page may be out of date The upmarket bookshop chain Waterstone's, founded by former W H Smith executive Tim Waterstone in 1982, was bought in 1989 and sold in 1998. Waterstone's is a United Kingdom –based chain of bookshops. Tim Waterstone (born 1939 in Glasgow, Scotland) is the chairman of the HMV Media Group plc which includes the United Kingdom bookselling In 1986 W H Smith bought the Our Price music chain; in the 1990s it also bought other music retailers including the Virgin Group's smaller (non-Megastore) shops. Our Price was a chain of record stores in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland from the 1970s until the late 1990s Virgin Group Ltd is a branded Venture capital conglomerate of separately run companies that each use the Virgin brand of British business tycoon Virgin Megastores is an international chain of Record shops founded by Sir Richard Branson on London 's Oxford Street in January or February Virgin Our Price was sold to Virgin Retail Group Ltd in 1998.

On April 18, 2007, the Post Office announced that 70 of its branches nationwide are to move into W H Smith stores by autumn 2008. Events 1025 - Bolesław Chrobry is crowned in Gniezno, becoming the first King of Poland. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. For the UK's mail delivery service See Royal Mail Post Office Ltd (Swyddfa'r Post Cyf 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common ^[2] The Post Office says all its services will continue to be available at W H Smith.

On March 19, 2008, WH Smith announced the takeover of United News^[3]. Events 1279 - A Mongolian victory in the Battle of Yamen ends the Song Dynasty in China. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common

Expansion beyond England and Wales

A typical W H Smith high street exterior.

England and Wales have always been W H Smith's home territory. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland However, in recent years the establishment of a significant retail presence in Northern Ireland and Scotland has seen the chain spread UK-wide. Northern Ireland (Tuaisceart Éireann Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a Country within the United Kingdom, lying in the northeast of Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. In Northern Ireland there is only one W H Smith located in Belfast City centre, thus making it the only store of its kind on the island of Ireland.

W H Smith has also engaged in business outside the United Kingdom. Canadian operations began in 1950 and continued until 1989, although the SmithBooks chain continued to operate there until the late 1990s when it was consolidated with the Coles chain as Chapters; a few shops still retain the name as of 2008. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Chapters is a Canadian Big Box Bookstore chain owned by Indigo Books and Music. W H Smith also operated stores in the United States from 1985 until 2003, primarily in airports. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The company acquired Australian and New Zealand subsidiaries in 2001 which were subsequently disposed of, along with those in in the Hong Kong International Airport and in Singapore, in 2004. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island Hong Kong International Airport is the main airport in Hong Kong. Singapore The company retains one shop in the centre of Paris, France. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics.

Takeover of John Menzies

For many years, the main rival to both W H Smith's small railway-station outlets and their news distribution business was John Menzies. John Menzies plc is a Scottish business established in 1833 It has two main divisions Menzies Distribution and Menzies Aviation. However, in 1998, W H Smith bought all retail outlets of Menzies (in a move in which John Menzies intended to concentrate on its distribution business). Since then nearly every large railway station in Britain has had a branch of W H Smith in it. The station branches sell unusually high-priced soft drinks and snacks.

This purchase also cleared the way for W H Smith's retail expansion into Scotland. Prior to the takeover, Menzies' larger Scottish stores (carrying a very similar range of products to High Street W H Smith stores elsewhere) dominated the market, and the latter's presence was minimal.

News distribution demerger

On 12 April 2006, the board of W H Smith announced its intention to demerge the retail and news distribution arms of the business into two separate companies:

• W H Smith plc - continues as the retail arm
• Smiths News plc - former newspaper and magazine distribution arm. Events 467 - Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Smiths News plc ( is a British newspaper and magazine distributor based in Swindon, England.

The demerger took effect on 30 August 2006. Events 1363 - Beginning date of the Battle of Lake Poyang; the forces of two Chinese rebel leaders— Chen Youliang and Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.

Smiths News is a member of the industry trade body, the Association of Newspaper and Magazine Wholesalers. An industry trade group, also known as a trade association, is an organization founded and funded by Businesses that operate in a specific Industry. The Association of Newspaper and Magazine Wholesalers (ANMW is a Trade association that represents the interests of Newspaper & Magazine Wholesalers

Takeover plans

In recent years W H Smith has had a series of problems: its retail side has had difficulties competing with specialist book and music chains on one side and large supermarkets on the other, while the distribution side had to back down from an exclusive distribution deal with Tesco after newspaper publishers threatened to cancel their distribution contracts. Customer divider barjpg|thumb|In supermarkets sellers periodically change prices for classes of goods in response to market conditions rather than negotiating the price of each good Tesco plc is a British -based international grocery and general merchandising retail chain There was also a significant shortfall in the group's pension fund. The result was several years of poor financial performance, and a takeover bid by the Permira group, which fell through. Permira is an international Private equity firm based in the United Kingdom, headed by Damon Buffini. The group has reacted to this by disposing of its overseas subsidiaries and its publishing business Hodder Headline, in order to concentrate on reforming its troubled core businesses. Hodder Headline is a British publishing company with a number of well-known imprints

In the year to 31 August 2004 W H Smith plc had a turnover of £2,834 million, on which it made a pre-tax loss of £130 million, due to significant "exceptional items" and losses on the sales of subsidiaries. Events 1056 - Byzantine Empress Theodora becomes ill dying suddenly a few days later without children to succeed the Throne "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " In business revenue or revenues is Income that a company receives from its normal business activities usually from the sale of goods and services Disposals during the year reduced the group's net assets from £409 million to £256 million. Net assets are sometimes the same as Net worth, or Shareholders' equity - assets minus liabilities At its December 2004 share price of around 323p, the company's market capitalisation was just under £600 million. Market capitalization/capitalisation (aka market cap, mkt cap or capitalized/capitalised value) is a measurement of Corporate or Economic

Awards and prizes

W H Smith is the sponsor of the WH Smith Literary Award, which has been running since 1959 and is one of the most wide-ranging of literary prizes, admitting works of all genres from authors of all ages and both genders from across the world. The WH Smith Literary Award is an award founded in 1959 by British high street retailer W H Smith. W H Smith also sponsors the W H Smith Children's Book of the Year prize, which is part of the British Book Awards. The British Book Awards are given annually and promoted by the UK Publishing industry trade journal Publishing News. In recent years it also ran the People's Choice Book Awards, though these were discontinued as the group slimmed down. The W H Smith Illustration Awards were awarded between 1987 and 1994.

W H Smith in British life

"Smith's" shops are a familiar sight on British high streets. Their book range is populist.

Despite its former claim to be the "World's Best Booksellers", W H Smith has never sought to compete with specialist booksellers in the highbrow and academic markets (such as Blackwell's) or on depth in particular genres (except perhaps for railway-related books for enthusiasts in their railway station branches). Blackwell UK is a national chain of bookshops, online retail mail order and library services which has an annual turnover of £ 74 million Similarly their audio and video departments tend to concentrate on chart pop music and blockbuster films. On the other hand, their large shops typically offer a larger range of specialist magazines than most newsagents.

For many years W H Smith's policy of not stocking the satirical magazine Private Eye, because of the company's fear of being held responsible for any libelous articles it might contain, led to the magazine stigmatising it as "The World's Worst Booksellers" and "W H Smugg". Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical Magazine, edited by Ian Hislop. Their shops and distributors now carry the Eye. The original edition of The Life and Times of Private Eye, a compendium of Eye's first ten years, was edited by the publisher to remove a scurrilous item relating to W H Smith's, apparently to improve the chance that Smith's would stock the book. The ploy failed.

In the 1970's W H Smith's refused to stock or distribute Gay News, the campaigning newspaper for Gay rights. Eventually they bowed to pressure and now stock a wide range of gay lifestyle magazines.

In recent years, the chain has been critisized for the look and feel of its outlets, in particular that their stores look cramped and outdated. By comparison, the equivalent foreign chain is the French retailer FNAC, who operate in a similar marketplace (albeit without a UK outlet) and whose stores have an altogether less cluttered and more modern feel. The Fnac (originally Fédération nationale d’achats pour cadres, or National Purchasing Federation for Managers) is the largest French retailer FNAC has larger stores and operates a smaller outlet network than WH Smith and has expanded successfully beyond France.

Television

In 1982 W H Smith bought a significant minority stake in the ITV company Yorkshire Television, following changes in the latter's share structure and ownership. Independent Television (generally known as ITV) is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters set up under the Independent Yorkshire Television is the ITV contractor for the Yorkshire franchise

It also founded two of the UK's earliest cable television channels, Lifestyle and Screensport through its WHSTV division, which were carried on almost every cable system in the UK and Ireland prior to the start of Sky Television. Lifestyle was a British television channel dedicated to women and family and was broadcast on cable and on the transponder 5 of the Astra satellite. Screensport was a pan-European sports television channel The network was launched as a stand-alone channel in Manchester in 1984 and later acquired by the Both channels moved to the Astra 1A satellite used by Sky in 1991 and later floundered due to the increased cable competition. Astra 1A was the first satellite launched and operated by Société Européenne des Satellites (SES now SES Astra. Screensport merged with Eurosport at its relaunch as part of the TF1 Group, and Lifestyle was closed down. Eurosport is the largest European sports Satellite and cable network available in 54 countries and broadcasting in 20 different languages TF1 Group is a French media holding company ( Groupe TF1 in French the owner of channel TF1, the largest European private TV channel and Eurosport

References

External links

• W H Smith plc corporate website
• WHSmith.co.uk (retail site)
• News distribution website
• WHSmith recruitment website
• WHSmith English-language bookshop in Paris
• W H Smith tries to tempt browsers — Guardian story from July 2004 on the company's recovery plans