"FUNKYPIGEON.COM LIMITED - Company Credit Reports, Company Profile - Endole Gregory Bartholameu - CEO."
Smith's is a British retailer that operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books.
Henry and Anna Smith started the company as a news vendor in London.The company was owned by the Smith family for many years and saw a large-scale expansion in the 1970s.The company focused on its core retail business after it was rejected by private equity.It was the first retail chain in the world.
The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange.It celebrated its 200th anniversary.[4]
Henry and Anna Smith established the business as a news vendor in London in the 19th century.After their deaths, the business was taken over by their youngest son William Henry Smith, who became W. H. Smith & Son.The firm opened news-stands on railway stations in the 19th century.The firm opened depots in Manchester in 1850.From 1860 to 1961, it ran a circulating library service and a publishing business.The younger W. H. Smith became a Member of Parliament in 1868 after serving as a minister in several Conservative governments.[5]
After the death of W. H. Smith, his widow was created and his son took over the business from his father and mother.After the death of the second Viscount in 1928, the business was reconstituted as a limited company in which his son owned all the ordinary shares.The death duties were so large that a public holding company had to be formed and shares sold to the public.A younger brother of the third Viscount remained chairman until 1972, but the Smith family's control waned, and the last family member left the board in 1996.[5]
Standard Book Numbering is a nine-digit code created by WH Smith in 1966.ISO 2108 was adopted as an international standard in 1970 and was used until 1974.[8]
In the 70s, WH Smith began to expand into other retail sectors.WH Smith Travel ran from 1973 to 1991.The Do It All chain of shops started with an acquisition in 1979 and became a joint venture with Boots in 1990.Waterstone's, founded in 1982, was bought in 1989 and sold in 1998.[5]
The Virgin Group's smaller (non-Megastore) shops were bought by WH Smith in the 1990s.The 75% share of Virgin Our Price was sold in 1998.The Wall, the American record chain owned by WH Smith, was sold in 1998.10
For many years, the company's railway-station outlets were the main competitor to John Menzies' retail outlets.The way for WH Smith's retail expansion into Scotland was cleared by this purchase.Prior to the takeover, Menzies' larger Scottish shops dominated the market, and the latter's presence was minimal.[2]
For several years, the company's retail arm had difficulties competing with specialist book and music chains on one side and large supermarkets on the other.Permira's takeover bid in 2004 fell through due to poor financial performance.The company sold its overseas subsidiaries in order to focus on its core businesses.There are no comments at this time.
In August of 2006 the retail and news distribution arms of the business were split into two separate companies.The Entertainer's The Gadget Shop was bought by WH Smith in September of 2010.Funky Pigeon was also bought that year.[17]
QualitySolicitors would place representatives in up to 500 of WH Smith's UK branches under a deal that was signed in April 2011.In January 2012 Past Times went into administration and the brand name was bought by WH Smith.[21]
In October of last year, it was announced that the ModelZone brand would be sold through existing WH Smith shops.The low-price brand Cardmarket was to be launched by WH Smith as part of its greetings card offering.According to the statement, these trial shops would be in low rent areas.The trial of Cardmarket would end with the closing of the stores.At least six WHSmith stores were deemed economically unviable following a strategic business review.[26]
In late 2017, the company purchased Cult Pens, a UK-based retailer of stationery items.[28]
More than 150 layoffs were announced at the head office of WH Smith in July 2020.In November 2020, the company announced that it had decided to close 25 stores after a loss of over $300 million.[29]
W H Smith and Well collaborated to open a flagship store in Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport in August 2020.30
Sky Television in 1989 started carrying one of the UK's earliest cable television channels, Lifestyle, founded by WH Smith.The company took over the operations and management of Screensport in January 1986 after ABC and R Kennedy pulled out.[31]
The company has taken on a number of Post Office branches.By April 2016 this had reached 107, including former Crown Post Offices, with plans for an additional 61.[33]
Following its acquisition of United News in March 2008, WH Smith operates a number of shops within hospitals.[34]
In addition to its existing joint ventures and franchise shops, the company trialed the smaller format, convenience-based WH Smith Local concept.Targeted at independent newsagents and post office business owners, a total of 40 such stores were trading and a further 40 planned by the time the 2015 annual report had been published.[37]
The company has opened shops using its Funky Pigeon brand as well as a subsidiary that offers greetings cards online and in stores.[38]
Canadian operations started in 1950.There were 14 stores in Canada by 1970.They were sold to domestic owners in 1989 and renamed SmithBooks.Chapters retained the Coles and SmithBooks names and locations while also opening new namesake superstores.Many SmithBooks locations were eventually converted to Coles, but a few still retain the name.40
By 1970, there were two retail stores for WH Smith in Paris and Brussels.The company has a shop on Rue de Rivoli in Paris, France.41 and 42 were the days.
In the United States, WH Smith operated shops in airports.The company acquired Australian and New Zealand subsidiaries in 2001 and subsequently sold them along with those in Hong Kong International Airport and Singapore at Changi Airport.It was [13].
The collapse of Angus & Robertson/Borders caused WH Smith to restart its Australian operations in March 2011.The International Departures Terminal has a new shop.There are three outlets at the airport, three at Southern Cross Railway Station and one within the shopping mall.[42]
There are shops in major Indian airports.30 kiosk shops in China are being planned by WH Smith.The Sunrisers Hyderabad team is sponsored by WH Smith in India.[45]
In October 2008, WH Smith and SSP opened five branches within Copenhagen Airport, and in April 2009, they opened a branch in Stockholm-Arlanda Airport.In 2009, WH Smith opened two shops at Shannon Airport.Three shops are located in Dublin Airport's Terminal Two, which was opened in November 2010 and five shops in Terminal One,which was open in the same year.When winning this contract, the chain promised to hire a full-time Irish book buyer, but the appointment of an Australian in London drew criticism.48
Dublin Airport's Terminal 1 has four shops.The retailer asked the airport operator to tender for a new contract one year earlier because of a fall in sales due to the success of Terminal 2 at Dublin.[49]
On 19 June 2009, WH Smith apologized after promoting a book on cellar rapist Josef Fritzl as one of the "Top 50 Books for Dad" as a Father's Day gift.[52]