Financial Management - WHSmith PLC - Essay ExampleHowever, WHSmith Retail sales fell by 1% to 1,453m from last year's 1,463m, driven mainly by a 2% loss in its High Street Retail business. This loss in high street retail was only mildly offset by the excellent performance in travel retail characterized by an 11% increase in profits to 21m from 19m in the previous year, and a 3% increase in sales. Reasons for the overall profit loss of the group were attributed to a significant decrease in sales due to unsuccessful marketing and promotions and the continued sale of products with decreasing demand; and an unsuccessful investment in technology, which contributed to the company's increased costs.Another aspect of the retail business is WHSmith Online. Launched in 2000, the retail website, www.whsmith.co.uk, has not been utilized by the company to its potential and is not integrated with the rest of the retail business. It experienced a loss of 2m in profit, similar to the previous year and sales of 7m.
