WH Smiths' newest director buys

New WH Smith non-executive director Walker Boyd has made his first purchase of shares in the retailer.

Boyd joined the board in February and he has acquired 15,000 shares at 506.5p each. This cost nearly £76,000. He did not own any shares prior to the purchase. Boyd has bought the shares earlier enough to secure the 6.1p a share interim dividend.

Boyd is finance director jewellery retailer Signet.

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The share purchase comes a few days after WH Smith said that its interim revenues had slipped to £716m from £731m in the first half of the previous year, while pre-tax profits edged up from £61m to £62m.

The company's 569 High Street stores saw sales fall by 4%. The division delivered £5m in cost savings through measures such as improved use of technology and further supply chain efficiencies.

At the travel business, which mainly consists of the company's stores in airports and railway stations, total sales grew by 2% though they were down by 2% on a like-for-like basis, partly due to the decline in air travel. Margins were lifted by better use of space and more sales of higher margin products such as books.

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