Newspaper and magazine wholesaler Smiths News says it expects its performance for the 2025 financial year to be in line with expectations. The Swindon-headquartered company made the announcement ahead of its annual general meeting (AGM) on Thursday.
The historic business, which is holding its AGM at DoubleTree by Hilton at Lydiard Fields, is aiming to deliver adjusted pre-tax profit £33.3m for the year ending August 30, 2025.
The company will pay a final dividend of 3.4p and a special dividend of 2.0p to shareholders on February 6, bringing the total for financial year 2024 to 7.15p per ordinary share held.
Smiths News said it had formally secured long-term contracts representing 91% of its newspaper and magazine revenues to at least 2029. The announcement comes less than a month after the company confirmed it had secured a new long-term contract with Daily Mirror and Daily Express publisher Reach.
The agreement with Reach is for all of Smiths News’ current distribution territories in the UK through to 2029, representing revenues of around £160m a year at current market values.
Jon Bunting, chief executive of Smiths News, said: “The business has continued to perform well since the start of the year, and we remain on track to meet market expectations.
“Alongside ensuring we continue to deliver a first-class service to our newspaper and magazine customers, we remain focused on further capitalising on our proven early morning capabilities in order to further enlarge our operational footprint. I look forward to updating shareholders on our progress at the half year results in May.”
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