The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

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Booksellers hit by retail fall-out

09.01.08 Graeme Neill

Book retailers' share prices have been dragged down in the wake of Marks and Spencer's poor Christmas trading results announced this morning (9th January). HMV's shares fell by 4.4% to 106.1p and W H Smith's share price fell to 304p, a drop of 4.2%, as the FTSE 100 share index fell by 1.6% in the wake of the statement.

M&S reported its worst Christmas for two years, with its UK like-for-like sales down 2.2% in the last three months of 2007. It is the latest retailer to post poor results, as continuing economic woes hit the British wallet. On Tuesday figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said retailers saw their worst Christmas in three years.

Both WHS and HMV are issuing trading statements later this month although analysts have suggested they could buck the underperforming trend of the wider high street, with book sales monitor Nielsen BookScan recording a rise in book sales.

Woolworths' shares also fell 2.1% to 11.5p but the some of the biggest bookselling businesses that were hit were the supermarkets. Sainsbury's share price dropped by 5.9% to 361.75p and Tesco's shares were trading at 420p, a fall of 4.9%.

Retail Financial booksellers Graeme Neill