WHSmith
 | |
| Formerly |
|
|---|---|
| Type | Public |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1792 in London, England |
| Founder | Henry Walton Smith |
| Successor | TGJones (high street retail and online businesses) |
| Headquarters | London, England, UK |
Number of locations | 593 (UK Travel) 687 (International Travel) |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Leo Quinn (Executive Chairman) |
| Brands |
|
| Revenue |  £1,553 million (2025) |
 £148 million (2025) | |
| £(137) million (2025) | |
Number of employees | 14,235 (2025) |
| Subsidiaries | Marshall Retail Group |
| Website | whsmithplc |
| Footnotes | |
WH Smith plc is a British travel retailer, operating in Europe, North America, the Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Predominately operating in airports, alongside railway stations, hospitals and service stations, the company is best known as a retailer of refreshments, books, and entertainment. The company trades under a series of brands, mainly WHSmith and InMotion.
Formed by Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna in 1792 as a news vendor in London, it remained under the ownership of the Smith family for many years and saw large-scale expansion during the 1970s as the company began to diversify into other retail categories. Following a rejected private equity takeover in 2004, the company began to focus on its core high street and travel businesses. In July 2025, the company sold its 480 high street locations to Modella Capital, who rebranded them as TGJones.
In the 1960s, the company facilitated the creation of the SBN book identifier, which later became the internationally-used ISBN.
WHSmith is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.