Wh Smith will disappear from High Street after an agreement to sell its business on the United Kingdom Street to the Investment Firm Modella Capital, owner of Hobbycraft craft retailer, for £ 76 million.
The movement will eventually see the family Name Wh Smith replaced by the TGJONES brand. The sale only affects the traditional Whic Smith locations and does not include its lucrative retail travel business, which operates in airports and trains stations.
The agreement covers approximately 480 High Street stores and transfers around 5,000 employees to Modella Capital. The future of the Whis Smith brand is still sure, since it is not included in the sale.
The travel division, which has become the key focus of the group in recent years and also includes stores in hospitals, will not change. That constitutes most of its sales and profits, and has grown to more than 1,200 stores in 32 countries.
High Street stores have become a “much smaller part” in the group, said their boss. Whight Street Street stores contribute only 15 percent of the group's general profits.
Group's executive president, Carl Cowling, said: “As we continue to fulfill our strategic ambition to become the leading global travel retailer, this is a crucial moment for Wh Smith as we become a business exclusively focused on trips.
“As our travel business has grown, our leading business of the United Kingdom has become a much smaller part of the Wh. High Street group is a good business; it is profitable and generative in cash with an experienced and high -performance management team.
“However, given our rapid international growth, now it is the right time for a new owner to carry the street business and for the Wh Smith leadership team to concentrate exclusively on our travel business. I wish the High Street team all success.”
The sale to Modella Capital represents a business value of £ 76 million in cash and without debts.
Modella Capital specializes in investing in retailers. He has previously put money in chains that include Paperchase and Rack.
In August, he obtained the Hobbycraft handicraft retailer for an unleashed sum.
The sale of Wh Smith follows a period of uncertainty in which it was believed that several potential buyers were in the race to take the historical chain.
It is understood that the private capital groups and Alteri were among the parties to express interest in a possible acquisition, after Wh Smith launched the process at the end of last year.
