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.
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.
