profit from every £100 of sales.
£0£100
WH Smith
£3.74-6.17% today
-44.7% in 1 year
1-year low £3.611-year high £6.99
Trading close to its lowest price of the past year.
The essentials
Four questions every investor asks, answered in one line each.
more sales each year, on average, 2022 to 2025.
0%20% a year
It has no yearly profit to compare the price with.
CheapExpensive
of earnings would pay off all its debt.
No debt5 years
Money in, money out
What WH Smith sold, what it kept, and what it did with the cash.
Sales went from £1.40 billion in 2022 to £1.55 billion in 2025, with -£144 million of profit last year.
SalesProfit
WH Smith handed back 48% of the cash it generated last year.
Buybacks £50M£43M
Free cash flow 2025£195M
Bought back its own shares£50M
Paid as dividends£43M
Cash vs. debt£71M vs. £945M
WH Smith vs. similar companies
How it compares with the largest companies in its industry.
| Company | Profit from £100 of sales | Sales growth a year | Price per £1 of profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| WH Smith | No profit yet | ||
 Alimentation Couche-Tard | 17.0× · Fair price | ||
 Williams-Sonoma | 27.5× · Fair price | ||
 Ulta Beauty | 24.5× · Fair price | ||
 Coupang | 130.9× · Very expensive |
AI analysis
An AI analyst reads WH Smith's last five years, its segments, earnings, insiders and peers, and writes the bull case, the bear case and what the price expects.
Run the AI analysisFull statementsIncome, balance sheet and cash flow, year by year
Income statement
| In millions of GBP | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,400 | 1,793 | 1,473 | 1,553 | |
| 862 | 1,111 | 852 | 889 | |
| 116 | 179 | 151 | 145 | |
| 228 | 314 | 240 | 182 | |
| 47 | 79 | 54 | -144 | |
| 0.36 | 0.60 | 0.51 | -1.13 | |
| 61.6% | 62.0% | 57.8% | 57.2% | |
| 8.3% | 10.0% | 10.3% | 9.3% | |
| 3.4% | 4.4% | 3.7% | -9.3% |
Balance sheet
| In millions of GBP | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total assets | 1,692 | 1,647 | 1,854 | 1,460 |
| Cash | 132 | 56 | 56 | 71 |
| Total debt | 1,001 | 951 | 1,053 | 945 |
| Total liabilities | 1,381 | 1,314 | 1,432 | 1,272 |
| 295 | 310 | 396 | 158 | |
| 132 | 132 | 131 | 129 | |
| 5.6% | 9.2% | 5.8% | 3.3% | |
| 15.9% | 25.5% | 13.6% | -91.1% |
Cash flow
| In millions of GBP | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 187 | 251 | 266 | 276 | |
| 83 | 122 | 106 | 81 | |
| 104 | 129 | 160 | 195 | |
| Dividends paid | – | 22 | 41 | 43 |
| 7 | – | 0 | 50 | |
| 9 | 12 | 9 | 3 |
Valuation
- –
- –
- –
- 3.3×
- 0.4×
- 2.9×
- 7.9×
- 34.6%
- -25.6%
- 7.6%
Profitability
- 57.2%
- 9.3%
- -9.3%
- –
- 3.3%
- 6.0%
- –
- –
- –
- –
Growth
- +3.5%
- –
- –
- –
- −0.8%
Financial health
- 4.8×
- 5.98
- –
- 1.0×
- 0.39
- –
- –
How it ranks in Consumer Discretionary
Each dot is where the company stands among every company over $300M in the sector. Further right is better.
Bottom 18%of 981
Top 43%of 995
Bottom 30%of 996
Top 2%of 982
7.6%of the share price, paid each year
On $1,000 invested$76a year at today's yield, before tax
–per share
Raised–not every year
How safe it looks
: 22.1%
News
A. O. Smith expects 2026 sales up ~4% excluding China as it plans to close CPE deal in H1 2027Seeking Alpha · Oct 29, 2026International Paper gains as PE firms explore bids for DS Smith (update)Seeking Alpha · Oct 15, 2026Smith & Nephew sets $878.90 price for 2030 bond tenderSeeking Alpha · Sep 16, 2026Smith-Midland secures $2.2M contract for Newport News Navy ProjectSeeking Alpha · Sep 15, 2026Smith Micro and Consumer Cellular Bring New Senior Phone Experience to Market, Helping Seniors Age in PlaceYahoo Finance · Sep 2, 2026Insider trades
Our insider feed has not updated since May 26, 2026. Trades filed after that are not listed yet.
No insider trades on file.
The seven classic investing rulebooks
0/7Passes 0 of 7. Each bar is how well the company fits that investor's published rules, from 0 to 100; 60 or more counts as a pass.
Warren Buffett
28No pass
Benjamin Graham
2No pass
Philip Fisher
33No pass
Peter Lynch
8No pass
Joel Greenblatt
2No pass
Charlie Munger
22No pass
Terry Smith
17No pass
Questions about WH Smith
Is WH Smith a good stock to buy?
A business with weak numbers that is not profitable yet. 0 of the 7 famous investors' published rulebooks we apply pass it. Whether it suits you depends on your goals and the price you pay; invest-like never tells anyone to buy or sell. The AI analysis lays out the case for and against. Read the WH Smith AI analysis
What does WH Smith do?
WH Smith PLC operates as a travel retailer in the United Kingdom, North America, Australia, Ireland, Spain, and internationally. It offers news, books, and convenience for travelling customers. It is in Specialty Retail, based in Swindon, United Kingdom, with 9,290 employees.
Does WH Smith pay a dividend?
Yes. At today's price the dividend is 7.6% a year. In 2025 it paid out £43.0 million in dividends.
Is WH Smith stock halal?
No. WH Smith does not pass our halal screen: its debt is 168% of its market value, at or above the 33% limit. How we check
How has WH Smith stock done over the past year?
Down 44.7% over the past twelve months, to £3.74. It traded between £3.61 and £6.99 and is 46.5% below its high.
Who are WH Smith's competitors?
The largest listed companies in the same industry are Alimentation Couche-Tard, Williams-Sonoma, Ulta Beauty and Coupang. The peers table on this page compares their profit, growth and price with WH Smith's.
Prices: daily closes to Nov 13, 2026. Fundamentals: company reports via invest-like data.