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JP Morgan Cazenove retains overweight on WH Smith, target raised from 1310p to 1520p.

RBC comment:
"WH Smith remains one of our Best Ideas in General Retail for exposure to strong global travel trends, active space management, favourable mix impacts on margin and ongoing cost savings and cash returns (additional £50mn share buyback announced today).
Our view: Outperform, 2000p price objective
We favour WH Smith for a) Its strong Travel rollout story b) further High Street gross margin upside, c) its strong cost saving culture, c) its strong track record of cash returns, and d) its rating of 14x CY17E P/E with a 3% dividend yield and £50mn share buyback, we think this makes a strong case for owing the shares and we reiterate our Outperform rating with a £20 price target."

StockMarketWire.com
Book and convenience chain WH Smith said it had agreed to acquire airport retailer InMotion for $198m (£155m), expanding its presence into the US market.

The deal would double the size of WH Smith's international travel business, which it has been growing to offset pressure on the UK high street.

The agreed acquisition price represented an implied multiple of around 9.9 times Ebitda.

'InMotion is a highly successful pure play travel retailer in the world's largest travel retail market,' chief executive Stephen Clarke said.

'The travel retail market in North America for digital accessories offers significant growth potential.'

'In addition, InMotion provides us with a scalable platform to launch the WH Smith airport format into the US, the world's largest travel retail market for news, books and convenience products.'

Also providing a trading update, WH Smith said it had made a 'good' start to the year, with travel revenue up 10% in the first eight weeks, and up 4% on a like-for-like basis.

High street total revenue was down 1%, and down 2% on a like-for-like basis.

Total revenue for the group was up 5%, or 1% on a like-for-like basis.