WH Smith to disappear from the High Street: All 500 shops to have different name after £76m deal
28 March 2025, 07:36 | Updated: 28 March 2025, 09:21
WH Smith has agreed to sell its UK high street chain in a deal valuing it at £76 million, and will eventually change its name under a rebrand, the company has announced.
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The WH Smith name will be erased from town centres. The sale does not include the retailer's travel locations, such as shops in airports and train stations - nor the WHSmith brand.
The new owners - Modella Capital, the company that owns Hobbycraft - will rebrand the stores they are taking on as TGJones.
All the approximately 480 stores and 5,000 staff working for the high street businesses will move under Modella Capital's ownership as part of the deal.
The estate - not including the travel locations - are set to rebrand as TGJones, the company revealed.
The provenance of the rebrand name TG Jones is not clear, but there was a Welsh footballer of that name who played for Everton and Wales who went on to own a newsagents in north Wales after his footballing career ended.
Group chief executive Carl Cowling said: "As we continue to deliver on our strategic ambition to become the leading global travel retailer, this is a pivotal moment for WHSmith as we become a business exclusively focused on travel.
"As our travel business has grown, our UK high street business has become a much smaller part of the WHSmith Group.
"High Street is a good business; it is profitable and cash generative with an experienced and high-performing management team.
"However, given our rapid international growth, now is the right time for a new owner to take the high street business forward and for the WHSmith leadership team to focus exclusively on our travel business. I wish the High Street team every success."
The sale to Modella Capital represents an enterprise value of £76 million on a cash and debt-free basis.
Modella Capital specialises in investing in retailers. It has previously put money into chains including Paperchase and Tie Rack.
In August, it snapped up arts and crafts retailer Hobbycraft for an undisclosed sum.
The WH Smith sale follows a period of uncertainty where a number of potential buyers were believed to be in the running to snap up the historic chain.
It is understood that private equity groups Hilco and Alteri were among parties to raise interest over a possible takeover move, after WH Smith launched the process late last year.
