Sales at WH Smith's stores in UK airports have slumped by 35% as the coronavirus outbreak curbs travel, potentially denting its profit by up to £40m this year, the UK retailer said.
Shares in the company fell to the lowest level since June 2016 today after it warned of the impact on both revenue and profit from the outbreak.
WH Smith's airport and railway station stores have driven growth for the company by offsetting declining sales at its High Street stores. The company also runs shops in Dublin Airport.
Airlines globally have cancelled flights to and from China, where the outbreak originated, and more recently to the other regions such as Italy.
US President Donald Trump announced sweeping restrictions to travel from Europe to the US last night.
WH Smith said airports in Asia Pacific, which account for about 5% of its travel division, had been significantly impacted since February.
Over the last two weeks it has also seen a material downturn in passengers in Britain, the US and Europe, it said.
"For UK Travel, we expect revenue for the six months the end of August) to be down approximately 15% on expectations which include airports, our most affected channel, down 35% in March and April," the company said.
It said revenue in the US and the rest of its international business was expected to be about 20% lower than expectations.
As a result it currently estimates an adverse impact on its top line of between £100m and £130m for the year to the end of ugust and between £30m and £40m on underlying pretax profit.
The company said like-for-like revenue in the six months to end-February fell 1%, while total revenue rose 7%, and as a result it was confident profit for the first half would be in line with market expectations.
