WH Smith Profit Warning Meets £100 ‘Shy Girl’ Resale Frenzy as UK Book Retail Faces Fresh Squeeze
Copies of Mia Ballard’s withdrawn novel Shy Girl are being resold online for over £100 after Hachette halted distribution amid AI authorship allegations. WH Smith, which relies heavily on travel retail, cut its profit guidance and suspended its dividend, citing travel disruption and falling passenger spending. First-half trading profit dropped to £32 million from £47 million. Like-for-like revenue growth slowed to 2% in early second-half trading.