Swann raises £1.6m from WH Smith sale

Kate Swann, the boss of WH Smith has raised more than £1.6m from selling shares in the retailer.

Swann sold shares in November and the latest sale means that she has raised nearly £3m in three months.

On 16 February, Swann sold 345,846 shares at 476.09p each. That raised £1.65m. In November, the shares were sold for 461.36p each.

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Swann still owns 932,119 shares, equivalent to 0.64% of the company.

WH Smith is buying back its shares and it still has more than half of the £50m buy back cash to spend.

WH Smith recently paid £1.05m to acquire 22 stores from the administrators of south of England-focused British Bookshops and Stationers Limited. This should be earnings enhancing next year.

This deal followed January's trading statement. Total sales for the 21 weeks to 22 January fell 4% and were down 5% on a like for like basis.

Broker FinnCap forecasts a rise in pre-tax profit from £89m to £93.3m in the year to August 2011. The buy back programme means that earnings per share are expected to increase from 45.7p to 49.7p. A profit of £99.2m is forecast for 2011-12.

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