WHSmith

Also known as W. H. Smith, WHSmith plc, W. H. Smith & Son, WH Smith, W H Smith, Smith's, WHS

WH Smith plc, trading as WHSmith (also written WH Smith and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son), is a British travel retailer, with headquarters in London, England, which operates a chain of railway station, airport, port, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, entertainment products and confectionery.

Key facts

Company.name: WH Smith plc
Company.logo: WHSmith logo.svg
Company.type: Public
Company.foundation: in London, England, UK
Company.founder: Henry Walton Smith
Company.successor: TGJones (high street retail and online businesses)
Company.location: London, England, UK
Company.area_served: Worldwide
Company.key_people: Annette Court (chair)Carl Cowling (CEO)
Company.industry: Retail
Company.locations: 593 (UK Travel)687 (International Travel)
Company.revenue: £1,553 million (2025)
Company.operating_income: £148 million (2025)
Company.net_income: £(137) million (2025)
Company.num_employees: 14,235 (2025)
Company.subsid: Marshall Retail Group

via Wikipedia infobox

Official website

Home – WH Smith PLC

WH Smith PLC is a leading global retailer for news, books and convenience. At the heart of our business is our people and our customers. We aim to create value for both by constantly innovating and expanding on an incredible global scale, and improving our profitability and delivering sustainable returns.

whsmithplc.co.uk →

We are a leading global travel retailer for travel essentials. Today, we serve customers across more than 30 countries and our team of c.9,000 colleagues go above and beyond every day to ensure our customers’ journeys are as important as their final destination. WHSmith was founded in 1792 and we opened our first travel store over 175 years ago. We’re extremely proud of our heritage, and we’re even more proud of the global travel retailer we have become today. The WH Smith PLC Board is led by the Chair and includes a senior independent director, four non-executive directors and two executive directors, with support from the Company Secretary. Read our latest press releases and company updates, highlighting key developments, partnerships, and performance milestones.

Described at

W.H. Smith Business Archive | Special Collections

The W.H. Smith business archive contains administrative records, photographs, staff records and more. The library collection contains over 100 books.

collections.reading.ac.uk →

Link to a page describing this subject · 12,126 chars · not written by Vinony

Wikidata facts

Official website: www.whsmith.co.uk
Image: Whsmith hq swindon.jpg

Show 5 more facts

described at URL: collections.reading.ac.uk/special-collections/collections/w-h-smith-business-archive
short name: WHS
Commons category: WH Smith
inception: 1782-00-00
social media followers: 66298

Sources (3)

via Wikidata · CC0

~20 min read

Article

14 sections

Contents

History
Formation
Expansion
Restructuring
Since 2015
Focus on travel retail
Television
Operations
United Kingdom
International
See also
Notes
References
External links

The company was formed by Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna in 1792 as a news vendor in London. It remained under the ownership of the Smith family for many years and saw large-scale expansion during the 1970s as the company began to diversify into other markets. Following a rejected private equity takeover in 2004, the company began to focus on its core retail business. In the 1960s, the company facilitated the creation of the SBN book identifier, which later became the internationally-used ISBN.