Smiths News expects to invest between £21m and £27m in expanding its national distribution network after securing newspaper and magazine contracts forecast to generate approximately £375m in additional annual revenue.
The investment will support the company’s Go National programme, which involves extending its operations by approximately 700 delivery routes and 23 depots as major publisher agreements begin transferring into the expanded network.
Smiths News detailed the costs and financial expectations of the expansion alongside audited results for the 52 weeks ended 29 August 2026.
Annual revenue declined 2.6% to £1,036.2m from £1,064m, while adjusted operating profit fell slightly to £38.7m from £39.1m.
Adjusted profit after tax increased 1.5% to £27.4m, supported by lower financing costs. Statutory profit after tax, however, fell to £24.4m from £28.3m.
The difference reflects items excluded from the company’s adjusted performance measures, including costs associated with transformation and restructuring.
Smiths News has secured distribution contracts with News UK & Ireland, Telegraph Media Group, Associated Newspapers, Frontline, and Seymour Distribution.
These agreements extend commercial relationships through to 2037 and support the expansion of its existing early-morning delivery network across Great Britain.
The group estimates that the secured agreements will generate approximately £375m of incremental annual revenue once the new arrangements are fully operational.
It has identified a wider national distribution revenue opportunity of approximately £600m. That larger figure includes potential business beyond the contracted revenue already secured.
The first transitions are scheduled to begin in July 2027, giving Smiths News a defined period to prepare additional depots, delivery routes, operating systems, and distribution capacity.
The company expects programme investment of £21m–£27m, alongside separate transition costs of £7m–£9m during the 2027 financial year.
Management anticipates that these costs will affect profitability during the implementation period, before additional distribution volumes begin making a positive contribution.
The programme is expected to generate between £0 and £2m in incremental net profit during the 2028 financial year, increasing to approximately £12m–£18m annually from 2029.
These projections depend on the successful transfer of publisher contracts and integration of the expanded network. The company will incur significant expenditure before the expected annual profit contribution is achieved.
Alongside the expansion programme, Smiths News reported continued demand for collectables, supported by products associated with the men’s FIFA World Cup and Pokémon.
Its growth activities outside traditional newspaper and magazine distribution recorded a 31% annual increase in revenue, contributing to performance as the company develops additional uses for its logistics infrastructure.
Free cash inflow fell to £24.1m from £36.1m, while year-end bank net cash increased slightly to £3.9m from £3.3m.
The company proposed a final ordinary dividend of 3.90p per share, taking the annual ordinary dividend to 5.65p, compared with 5.55p in the preceding year.
Unlike the previous financial year, the board did not propose an additional special dividend. That decision comes as Smiths News prepares to fund the national distribution expansion.
The investment will significantly increase the scale of a business already operating a time-sensitive distribution network serving retailers across England and Wales.
New publisher volumes require coordinated warehouse capacity, route planning, technology, and delivery performance, with much of the distribution undertaken during early-morning operating windows.
Smiths News said trading in the 2027 financial year had started positively. Implementation of Go National and the associated technology programme will be its principal operational priorities as the first additional publisher volumes approach.
The company’s latest forecasts place the main financial benefits from the expanded network in 2029 and subsequent years, following the initial investment and transition period.
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