whsmith plc type public traded as lse smwh industry retail founded london 1792 ; 224 years ago 1792 headquarters swindon united kingdom number of locations 1 351 615 high street & 736 travel august 2015 1 key people henry staunton chairman stephen clarke ceo revenue 1 178 million 2015 2 operating income 124 million 2015 2 profit 101 million 2015 2 number of employees 14 391 november 2015 divisions modelzone our price 75 % website www.whsmithplc.co.uk whsmith plc also known as whs or colloquially as smith s and formerly w. h. smith & son is a british retailer which operates a chain of high street railway station airport port hospital and motorway service station shops selling books stationery magazines newspapers and entertainment products . its headquarters are in swindon wiltshire . smith s is listed on the london stock exchange and is a constituent of the ftse 250 index . it was the first chain store company in the world and was responsible for the creation of the isbn book catalogue system . contents 1 history 1.1 formation 1.2 isbn catalogue invention 1.3 1970s expansion 1.4 ownership of music retailers 1.5 takeover of john menzies 1.6 recent developments 2 television 3 operations 3.1 uk and ireland 3.1.1 inclusion of post offices high street 3.1.2 hospital stores travel 3.1.3 whsmith local franchises 3.2 international 4 controversies 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit formation edit the w. h. smith logo until the early 1990s featuring the then familiar cube of letters w. h. smith signage displaying the modern blue and white design shop frontage in 1792 henry walton smith and his wife anna established the business as a news vendor in little grosvenor street london . 3 after their deaths the business valued in 1812 at 1 280 about 72185 in 2012 adjusted by inflation was taken over by their youngest son william henry smith and in 1846 the firm became w. h. smith & son when his only son also william henry became a partner . 4 the firm took advantage of the railway boom by opening news stands on railway stations beginning with euston in 1848 . 4 in 1850 the firm opened depots in birmingham manchester and liverpool . 4 it also ran a circulating library service for a century from 1860 to 1961 . 5 6 the younger w. h. smith also used the success of the firm as a springboard into politics becoming an mp in 1868 4 and serving as a minister in several conservative governments . 4 after the death of w. h. smith the younger his widow was created viscountess hambleden in her own right ; 4 their son inherited the business from his father and the viscountcy from his mother . after the death of the second viscount in 1928 the business was reconstituted as a limited company in which his son the third viscount owned all the ordinary shares . 3 on the death of the third viscount in 1948 the death duties were so severe that a public holding company had to be formed and shares sold to w. h. smith staff and the public . 3 a younger brother of the third viscount remained chairman until 1972 but the smith family s control slipped away and the last family member left the board in 1996 . 3 isbn catalogue invention edit w. h. smith s hq building in swindon in 1966 w. h. smith originated a 9 digit code for uniquely referencing books called standard book numbering or sbn . it was adopted as international standard iso 2108 in 1970 and was used until 1974 when it became the isbn scheme . 7 1970s expansion edit from the 1970s w. h. smith began to expand into other retail sectors . w. h. smith travel operated from 1973 3 to 1991 . the do it all chain of diy stores originated with an acquisition in 1979 3 becoming a joint venture with boots in 1990 . 3 boots acquired smith s share in june 1996 . 3 the bookshop chain waterstone s founded by former w. h. smith executive tim waterstone in 1982 was bought in 1989 3 and sold in 1998 . 3 ownership of music retailers edit in 1986 w. h. smith bought a 75 % controlling share of the our price music chain ; 3 in the 1990s it also bought other music retailers including the virgin group s smaller non megastore shops . the 75 % share of virgin our price was sold to virgin retail group ltd in july 1998 for 145m . 3 whsmith also owned the american record chain the wall 8 which was sold to camelot music in 1998 . 9 takeover of john menzies edit in march 1998 the company acquired john menzies retail outlets for 68m which for many years were the main rival to the company s railway station outlets . this purchase also cleared the way for w. h. smith s retail expansion into scotland . prior to the takeover menzies larger scottish stores carrying a very similar range of products to high street w. h. smith stores elsewhere dominated the market and the latter s presence was minimal . 10 horsted keynes branch recent developments edit a w. h. smith owned funky pigeon shop at leeds railway station for several years the company s retail side had difficulties competing with specialist book and music chains on one side and large supermarkets on the other . this led to poor financial performance and a takeover bid in 2004 by permira which fell through . 11 it reacted to this by disposing of its overseas subsidiaries 12 and its publishing business hodder headline in order to concentrate on reforming its core businesses . 13 in 2006 the company decided to demerge the retail and news distribution arms of the business into two separate companies w. h. smith plc retail and smiths news plc newspaper and magazine distribution . the demerger took effect on 30 august 2006 . 14 on 7 september 2010 w. h. smith bought the gadget shop from the entertainer . 15 in april 2011 w. h. smith agreed a deal with the legal services provider qualitysolicitors under which qualitysolicitors is to place representatives in up to 500 of its uk branches . 16 17 18 past times went into administration in january 2012 and the brand name was later bought by w. h. smith in march 2013 . 19 in october 2013 w. h. smith announced that it had bought the modelzone brand and will sell products under this brand through existing w. h. smith stores . 20 21 22 w. h. smith subsequently announced through the modelzone twitter page in november 2013 that 10 stores were to carry products under the modelzone brand name by 23 november 2013 . 23 in october 2014 w. h. smith announced as part of its preliminary statement that it was planning on extending its greetings card offering by launching the value focussed brand cardmarket on a trial basis . according to the statement these trial stores will be in low rent areas and will be let to w. h. smith under short term leases . 24 television edit in 1982 w. h. smith bought a significant minority stake in the itv company yorkshire television following changes in the latter s share structure and ownership . through its whstv division it also founded one of the uk s earliest cable television channels lifestyle which was carried on almost every cable system in the uk and ireland prior to the start of sky television . 3 by late 1984 the company had bought a 15 % stake in screensport and from january 1986 took over the operations and management when abc and r kennedy pulled out . 25 operations edit uk and ireland edit former high street brentwood branch in recent years the establishment of a retail presence in northern ireland from december 2001 and scotland former john menzies stores has seen the chain spread uk wide . in northern ireland there are three travel locations at belfast city airport belfast international airport and city of derry airport the last of which opened on 9 september 2010 . the belfast city centre shop was taken over by eason & son in october 2011 . 26 in 2009 w. h. smith opened two stores in shannon airport county clare ireland . a further three stores are operated in dublin airport s terminal two which opened in november 2010 . the chain promised when winning this latter contract to hire a full time irish book buyer ; however the appointment of an australian based in london and not in dublin drew adverse criticism . 27 from november 2013 four more stores will open at dublin airport s terminal 1 . eason s currently at t1 in dublin asked the airport operator to tender for a new contract one year earlier as the retailer blamed a fall in sales on the success of terminal 2 at dublin which carried the majority of long haul traffic and long haul passengers tend to spend more on books . 28 inclusion of post offices high street edit in april 2007 the post office announced that 70 of its branches nationwide were to move into w. h. smith stores by autumn 2008 . 29 hospital stores travel edit on 19 march 2008 w. h. smith announced the takeover of united news a yorkshire based chain of newsagents . 30 whsmith local franchises edit in addition to its existing joint ventures and franchise stores the company trialed the smaller format convenience based whsmith local concept during summer 2013 . 31 targeted at independent newsagents and post office business owners 32 a total of 40 such stores were trading and a further 40 planned by the time the 2015 annual report had been published . 33 international edit stansted airport branch canadian operations began in 1950 and continued until 1989 when they were sold to domestic owners and renamed smithbooks . smithbooks later merged with coles forming chapters which retained the coles and smithbooks names and locations while also opening new namesake big box stores . many smithbooks locations were eventually closed or converted to coles ; a few locations still retain the name as of 2013 . 34 w. h. smith operated stores in the united states from 1985 until 2003 primarily in airports . the company acquired australian and new zealand subsidiaries in 2001 which were subsequently disposed of along with those in the hong kong international airport now as page one and in singapore at changi airport in 2004 now times travel under the times bookstore banner . 12 w. h. smith reopened its australian operation in march 2011 following the collapse of angus & robertson borders who held the naming rights in australia . the first new store was opened at melbourne international airport international departures terminal there are now three outlets at melbourne airport three at southern cross railway station and one within the melbourne central shopping mall . 35 w. h. smith has opened stores across the major airports in india . w. h. smith is currently in the process of planning 30 kiosks shops in china . 36 currently whsmith sponsor the ipl cricket team sunrisers hyderabad srh in india . 37 the company retains one shop in the centre of paris france . in october 2008 w. h. smith together with ssp opened five branches within copenhagen airport 38 and in april 2009 opened a branch in stockholm arlanda airport . 39 controversies edit on 19 june 2009 w. h. smith apologised after promoting a book on cellar rapist josef fritzl as one of the top 50 books for dad as a father s day gift . 40 41 in october 2012 w. h. smith faced backlash from shooters after the sale of shooting magazines to children under 14