WH Smith PLC (SMWH) Q4 2022 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning, everyone. I'm Carl Cowling, Group CEO, and I'm here with Robert Moorhead, our Group CFO and COO. Thank you all for joining. It's great to see those of you who are here in person, and welcome to everyone who has joined the webcast. As usual, we'll give you an update on our performance for the 12 months ending 31st of August 2022, and we'll also run through the highlights and important strategic tenders we have won across the globe. So in a moment, I'll hand over to Robert, who'll take you through the numbers, including a brief update on current trading, and then I will take you through the operational performance of the business, and we'll end with your questions. So before handing over to Robert, a quick overview from me and turning to slide three. So we've had a strong year, and the group is trading ahead of 2019 levels. As a result of the actions we have taken, the group is now in its strongest ever position as a global travel retailer. We continue to capitalise on the multiple growth opportunities using our broad suite of brands and global expansion programme. And the resumption of the dividend reflects the strength of our current trading and a high level of confidence going forward. As you'll hear as I go through the presentation, we have had another very successful year in winning new business in North America, across the rest of the world and in the UK. We now have 150 stores, one are due to open, with over 125 of these scheduled to open in the current financial year. It has been a year of intense activity, and at the core of everything we do, and a key driver of our success, is our ongoing forensic approach to retailing across each of our divisions. Turning to the next slide. Before I hand over to Robert, I thought it'd be helpful to talk you thr...