Loading…
Employees: 9,410
Size WH Smith (SMWH.L) is a United Kingdom Consumer Staples company (Food Retail) with a market value of $851M, the 237th largest of 363 United Kingdom companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at £420.80 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 10.4%, against -6.3% for the median peer and +3.6% for the United Kingdom market (cap-weighted) — 8th lowest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue fell 30.5% over the last twelve months (peer median +2.0%); the operating margin is 7.6% (peer median 2.9%).
Valuation It trades at 11.0× forward earnings against a peer median of 14.7× (3rd cheapest of 15).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 9% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +9%, so the hurdle is +0 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 2.2 points below its cost of capital (8.6% WACC).
Credit WH Smith has 3 bonds outstanding ($2.00B), rated BBB by the agencies and trading like BBB at a weighted spread of 105 bp.
Next results Next results expected around 12 Nov 2026 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £1.35B | £1.55B | £1.47B | £1.79B | £1.40B |
| Revenue growth | — | +5% | -18% | +28% | — |
| Gross profit | n/a | £880M | £843M | £1.10B | £849M |
| EBITDA | £214M | £271M | £265M | £322M | £243M |
| Net income | -£128M | -£144M | £54.0M | £79.0M | £47.0M |
| Free cash flow | £111M | £199M | £169M | £145M | £117M |
| Capital expenditure | £80.0M | £81.0M | £106M | £122M | £83.0M |
| Total debt | n/a | £985M | £1.09B | £991M | £1.04B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | SMWH.L | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +13.9% | +2.2% | 2nd highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | -10.4% | -6.3% | 8th lowest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -40.7% | -21.8% | 3rd lowest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | -30.5% | +2.0% | lowest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 7.6% | 2.9% | 2nd highest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 11.0× | 14.7× | 3rd cheapest of 15 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 9.1% | -3.8% | 4th most demanding of 18 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +8.8% | +2.9% | 2nd highest of 18 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +0.3 pp | -7.6 pp | 6th most demanding of 18 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -2.2 pp | +3.1 pp | 3rd lowest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 8.0× | 5.9× | 2nd most expensive of 8 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 4.9× | 0.8× | most indebted of 13 |
| Bond spread | 105 bp | n/a | — |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WH Smith SMWH.L | United Kingdom | $851M | -10% | -31% | 8% | 11.0× | 9.1% | +8.8% |
| BELC 9974.T | Japan | $852M | -8% | +5% | 4% | 10.7× | n/a | n/a |
| Axial Retailing 8255.T | Japan | $865M | +30% | +3% | 4% | 15.1× | -10.9% | +2.9% |
| Sanjiang Shopping Club 601116.SS | China | $833M | -26% | -7% | 3% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Jiajiayue 603708.SS | China | $874M | -12% | 0% | 2% | 25.6× | -12.7% | +1.5% |
| Jiangxi Guoguang Commercial Chains 605188.SS | China | $908M | -26% | +3% | 1% | n/a | 27.5% | +4.6% |
| Heiwado 8276.T | Japan | $749M | -2% | +2% | 3% | 13.3× | -3.8% | +0.7% |
| United Super Markets 3222.T | Japan | $999M | -7% | +11% | 0% | n/a | 31.5% | +5.6% |
| Chengdu Hongqi Chain 002697.SZ | China | $1.01B | -5% | -1% | 5% | 14.3× | -17.5% | +1.1% |
| Aeon Hokkaido 7512.T | Japan | $719M | -4% | +3% | 2% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Toly Bread 603866.SS | China | $1.01B | -15% | -2% | 8% | 24.1× | 0.5% | -1.8% |
| Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage NGVC | United States | $659M | +8% | +2% | 5% | 12.9× | 10.6% | +5.1% |
| Fuji 8278.T | Japan | $1.11B | -1% | -1% | 1% | n/a | 2.6% | +20.9% |
| Maxvalu Tokai 8198.T | Japan | $621M | -10% | +1% | 3% | n/a | -20.0% | +1.6% |
| San-a 2659.T | Japan | $1.22B | -2% | +6% | 7% | 16.4× | -12.3% | +3.9% |
| Taiwan FamilyMart 5903.TWO | Taiwan | $1.23B | -4% | +7% | 2% | 23.4× | -2.4% | +5.2% |
| Bestore 603719.SS | China | $587M | -11% | 0% | 0% | 140.6× | 6.3% | -7.0% |
| Valor 9956.T | Japan | $1.25B | -6% | +9% | 3% | 8.8× | -2.7% | +4.8% |
| Chongqing Chongbai Technology 600729.SS | China | $1.26B | -9% | -11% | 4% | 11.3× | -10.4% | -6.9% |
| Arcs 9948.T | Japan | $1.27B | +5% | +2% | 3% | 15.9× | -10.6% | +2.4% |
| Aryzta ARYN.SW | Switzerland | $1.28B | -26% | -3% | 7% | 13.0× | -6.6% | +3.0% |
WH Smith has 3 bonds outstanding with $2.00B face value. The agencies rate it BBB; its bonds trade like BBB. Weighted yield 4.58%, a spread of 105 bp over government bonds.