WH Smith will shed light on the state of his finances next week after his annual results were delayed due to accounting errors which led to his boss' resignation.
The heritage retailer, which now focuses on travel stores, will reveal results for the year to August 31 on Friday.
It is expected to reveal a drop in profits, driven by significantly weaker earnings for its North American business, which had originally been overstated due to problems in the audit process.
The publication of the results was initially due to take place on November 12, but was delayed until December 16 as a result.
On Friday, December 12, the group said this would be delayed again until Friday, December 19.
WH Smith told shareholders the delay would give auditor PwC “more time to complete the required audit procedures”.
The delay comes after Carl Cowling resigned as chief executive of WH Smith last month after a Deloitte report confirmed accounting problems.
The retailer, which sold its flagship UK stores earlier this year to focus on its travel locations, first revealed accounting issues in August.
Its shares fell as much as 40% after it discovered that trading profits in North America had been overstated, upon reviewing its financials.
As a result, the company cut its profit forecast.
Last month, an independent review by Deloitte found a number of “deficiencies” as the group overstated profits at the US business by up to £50m.
WH Smith warned that it expects profits in its US business on delayed full-year results in the range of £5m to £15m, down from the £55m originally expected in the market and the revised £25m when the accounting issue was first discovered.
WH Smith is focusing solely on its 1,300 stores in tourist locations around the world, such as airports, train stations and hospitals, after selling its main chain of around 480 stores to Hobbycraft owner Modella Capital in June.
As part of the deal, the WH Smith name will disappear from British high streets and will be replaced by the TGJones brand.
Next week WH Smith is expected to reveal pre-tax profits of between £100m and £110m over the last year.
This will represent a drop from profits of £171 million a year earlier.
