Irish arm of WHSmith sustains €11.5m revenue hit due to Covid

The Irish business of WHSmith sustained a €11.5 million, or 68 per cent, hit to revenues last year due to the Covid-19 impact on international travel.

A large portion of WHSmith's Irish business is based at Dublin Airport, where passenger numbers were decimated by Covid-related travel restrictions. In notes with the accounts, WHSmith Ireland directors said Covid-19 had affected trade throughout the year.

New accounts filed by WHSmith Ireland Ltd show the business recorded pretax losses of €3.38 million in the 12 months to the end of August last – a rise of 43 per cent on the pretax losses of €2.36 million in the prior year.

Revenues at the book, newspaper and magazine retailer last year declined from €17 million to €5.49 million. This compared with revenues of €33.29 million in 2019.

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Numbers employed in the business more than halved from 133 to 56.

Directors said “management focused on initiatives within its control that have supported the group in the immediate term and put the group in a good position to emerge operationally stronger as our markets continue to recover”.

The accounts show the pretax loss would have been higher but for €767,387 in Government Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme payments last year on top of €325,389 received in Covid-19 wage supports in 2020.