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WH Smith is considering cutting 1,500 jobs – 11% of its workforce – after the lockdown caused sales to plummet.
Most of the jobs being lost will be at the company’s travel sites, situated at airports and railway stations.
The firm said the impact of the coronavirus outbreak meant it expected to report a loss of £70-75m for the year to the end of August.
WH Smith is the latest High Street name to consider job cuts amid the disruption caused by the pandemic.
The company has 575 High Street shops and employs more than 14,000 people. Revenue at its travel division, which includes stores at airports and rail stations, fell 92% in the first month of lockdown.
At its High Street division, sales were still 25% down in July after lockdown eased.
WH Smith said it had now reopened all its High Street stores and 246 of its largest travel division sites, those in airports, railway stations and hospitals.
The announcement comes after William Hill said 119 of its High Street betting shops would not re-open after the shutdown forced by the coronavirus outbreak. Also on Wednesday, fashion chain M&Co said it, too, was cutting 340 jobs and closing 47 stores.
WH Smith, which made £155m in profit last year, said the job cuts and associated restructuring would cost it between £15-19m, but added it had enough funds to get through a prolonged downturn.
Group chief executive Carl Cowling said: “While there has been some progress in our High Street business, it does continue to be adversely affected by low levels of footfall.
“As a result, we now need to take further action to reduce costs across our businesses. I regret that this will have an impact on a significant number of colleagues whose roles will be affected by these necessary actions.”
He added that the company would do “everything we can to support them at this challenging time”.
News of the latest cuts comes after a wave of retail redundancies. On Monday, DW Sports said up to 1,700 jobs were at risk. John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, Boots and Selfridges are among other big names to announce job cuts.
The restaurant sector has also been hit hard, with Pizza Express warning on Tuesday that 1,100 jobs could go as part of a restructuring that could see 15% of outlets shut.
And the travel and tourism sector continues to suffer, with Hayes Travel saying on Monday that almost 900 jobs would go.
Barely a week into August, and already some 6,000 jobs have been lost or are under threat as the furlough scheme starts to wind down.
Here, courtesy of the Press Association news agency, is a list of major employers that have announced that jobs will be lost, or are at risk, since the start of the pandemic.
August 4: Dixons Carphone – 800
August 4: Pizza Express – 1,100 at risk
August 3: Hays Travel – up to 878
August 3: DW Sports – 1,700 at risk
July 31: Byron – 651
July 30: Pendragon – 1,800
July 29: Waterstones – unknown number of head office roles
July 28: Selfridges – 450
July 27: Oak Furnitureland – 163 at risk
July 23: Dyson – 600 in UK, 300 overseas
July 22: Mears – fewer than 200
July 20: Marks & Spencer – 950 at risk
July 17: Azzurri Group (owns Zizzi and Ask Italian) – up to 1,200
July 16: Genting – 1,642 at risk
July 16: Burberry – 150 in UK, 350 overseas
July 15: Banks Mining – 250 at risk
July 15: Buzz Bingo – 573 at risk
July 14: Vertu – 345
July 14: DFS – up to 200 at risk
July 9: General Electric – 369
July 9: Eurostar – unknown number
July 9: Boots – 4,000
July 9: John Lewis – 1,300 at risk
July 9: Burger King – 1,600 at risk
July 7: Reach (owns Daily Mirror and Daily Express newspapers) – 550
July 6: Pret a Manger – 1,000 at risk
July 2: Casual Dining Group (owns Bella Italia and Cafe Rouge) – 1,909
July 1: SSP (owns Upper Crust) – 5,000 at risk
July 1: Arcadia (owns TopShop) – 500
July 1: Harrods – 700
July 1: Virgin Money – 300
June 30: Airbus – 1,700
June 30: TM Lewin – 600
June 30: Smiths Group – “some job losses”
June 25: Royal Mail – 2,000
June 24: Jet2 – 102
June 24: Swissport – 4,556
June 24: Crest Nicholson – 130
June 23: Shoe Zone – unknown number of jobs in head office
June 19: Aer Lingus – 500
June 17: HSBC – unknown number of jobs in UK, 35,000 worldwide
June 15: Jaguar Land Rover – 1,100
June 15: Travis Perkins – 2,500
June 12: Le Pain Quotidien – 200
June 11: Heathrow – at least 500
June 11: Bombardier – 600
June 11: Johnson Matthey – 2,500
June 11: Centrica – 5,000
June 10: Quiz – 93
June 10: The Restaurant Group (owns Frankie and Benny’s) – 3,000
June 10: Monsoon Accessorise – 545
June 10: Everest Windows – 188
June 8: BP – 10,000 worldwide
June 8: Mulberry – 375
June 5: Victoria’s Secret – 800 at risk
June 5: Bentley – 1,000
June 4: Aston Martin – 500
June 4: Lookers – 1,500
May 29: Belfast International Airport – 45
May 28: Debenhams (in second announcement) – “hundreds” of jobs
May 28: EasyJet – 4,500 worldwide
May 26: McLaren – 1,200
May 22: Carluccio’s – 1,000
May 21: Clarks – 900
May 20: Rolls-Royce – 9,000
May 20: Bovis Homes – unknown number
May 19: Ovo Energy – 2,600
May 19: Antler – 164
May 15: JCB – 950 at risk
May 13: Tui – 8,000 worldwide
May 12: Carnival UK (owns P&O Cruises and Cunard) – 450
May 11: P&O Ferries – 1,100 worldwide
May 5: Virgin Atlantic – 3,150
May 1: Ryanair – 3,000 worldwide
April 30: Oasis Warehouse – 1,800
April 29: WPP – unknown number
April 28: British Airways – up to 12,000
April 23: Safran Seats – 400
April 23: Meggitt – 1,800 worldwide
April 21: Cath Kidston – 900
April 17: Debenhams – 422
March 31: Laura Ashley – 268
March 30: BrightHouse – 2,400 at risk
March 27: Chiquito – 1,500 at risk.
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