Image source: WHSmith

The high street retailer made the yesterday statement following news its sales were down 57% in July compared with the same month last year.

With WHSmith set to make a loss of £70-£75m for the year to August, CEO Carl Cowling commented yesterday following the release of an unscheduled trading statement: ‘‘In our travel business, while we are beginning to see early signs of recovery in some of our markets, the speed of recovery continues to be slow. I regret that this will have an impact on a significant number of colleagues whose roles will be affected by these necessary actions, and we will do everything we can to support them at this challenging time.’

He added that a ‘significant number’ of employees would be affected by cuts, as the travel industry in particular struggles to recover from the pandemic.

Lesser & Pavey

More than half of WHSmith UK travel shops have reopened and 246 of the largest sites have started trading again. All of its 575 high-street stores have opened – but footfall is majorly down compared to last year. It comes as a number of other high street brands reveal they are cutting jobs, with sales plummeting amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

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