Smiths News is the UK's largest news and magazine wholesaler, a company that gets newspapers to shops before dawn for 22,000 customers. Its core market shrinks a little every year, so for the past three years it has locked in publisher contracts, paid down debt, returned cash and tried to find new uses for its delivery network. In mid-2026 it won four long-term contracts that will extend that network nationally, and the build-out has only just begun.
Newspapers before dawn, plus a few side lines
Smiths News collects newspapers and magazines from publishers and delivers them to retailers across England and Wales, most of it overnight. The publishers it works for include Reach, News UK, the Financial Times, the Guardian and Marketforce. Newspapers and magazines still generate most of its revenue and profit.
Volumes fall each year. The company says revenue has fallen within a range of 3% to 5% a year, with cover price rises and collectables sales softening the decline. Collectables are football sticker albums and Pokémon cards, which sell on their own demand cycle.
Management is building three growth lines on the same early-morning network. Recycling collects waste from shops. New categories delivers books to supermarkets, about 30,000 a week. Final mile carries other goods, such as overnight deliveries to over 580 stores of an international optical and hearing care provider. 6 May 2026 4 Nov 2025
Locking in the publishers to 2029
The first priority from 2023 was securing the core. Smiths News renewed publisher contracts in stages, from 65% of revenue to 2029 in November 2023, to 74% that month, to 91% by December 2024 with the c.£160m a year Reach contract. It also won exclusive distribution of News UK titles in London, worth £27m a year in sales.
Debt fell at the same time. Average bank net debt halved in FY2023 to £25m. Until mid-2024 the banking agreements capped total dividends at £10m a year. 8 Nov 2023 17 Oct 2023 17 Nov 2023 10 Dec 2024
Refinancing frees cash for shareholders and investment
In May 2024 Smiths News refinanced into a £40m revolving credit facility, improved its margin by 155 basis points and removed the dividend cap. It adopted a new policy: ordinary dividends covered twice by earnings, bank net debt below 1.0x EBITDA, and disciplined bolt-on acquisitions.
It also said it would raise capital investment by about £2.0m a year for three years, to £6.0m a year. By the end of FY2025, £2.4m of that had been spent. Total dividends rose from 4.15p for FY2023 to 7.15p for FY2024 and 8.55p for FY2025, including special payments. The shares rose from about 48p in early 2024 to about 61p by May 2024. 2 May 2024 2 May 2024 5 Nov 2024 4 Nov 2025
“The refinancing agreement announced in May removes restrictions on shareholder returns and also enables internal investment to support both our news and magazines business and our growth plans.” 5 Nov 2024
Collectables carry profit while new lines stay small
In FY2025 revenue fell 3.6% to £1,064m, yet adjusted operating profit held at £39.1m, ahead of expectations. Collectables were the reason. Management chose to push these higher-margin products and said some of the sales cannot be repeated. The company also delivered £4.9m of cost savings.
The growth lines grew revenue 16% but made £1.4m of profit, down from £2.0m, because of trials and capacity spending. Recycling volumes rose 49% to over 2,500 tonnes. Adam Wylie joined as Managing Director of Recycling in August 2025, and the team now works through waste brokers. 4 Nov 2025 7 May 2025
2026: contracts that take the network national
Smiths News renewed the Guardian in March 2026 to 2031, lifting secured revenue to 96% to 2029. In June and July 2026 it announced three further deals, all running to 2037. News UK adds about £125m of annual revenue from July 2027. Associated Newspapers adds about £105m a year from January 2028. Frontline and Seymour add about £105m a year from April 2030 and cover over 60% of the UK magazine market.
Delivering these contracts requires an expanded national footprint. The company says it has begun that programme. It has promised to freeze delivery service charges for retailers for the life of the contracts. 19 Mar 2026 17 Jun 2026 29 Jun 2026 17 Jul 2026 29 Sep 2026
Steady decline, one-off boosts, small new profits
The pattern is consistent. Volume decline is gradual and expected, and the company has offset it with price rises, cost cuts of about £5m a year and collectables. Its FY2024 target for £2.0m of profit from organic growth ventures was met. Those ventures then slipped to £1.4m in FY2025, while spending on them continued.
Profit in the first half of FY2026 fell to £18.3m from £19.4m, which the company attributes to higher National Insurance costs and cost-base investment. Event-driven demand matters: the FIFA World Cup added over £3m of profit in FY2026. 4 Nov 2025 6 May 2026 29 Sep 2026
Same CEO, new finance chief, owners adding
Jonathan Bunting is CEO throughout. The finance chief changed: Paul Baker's departure was announced in March 2025, he left in November 2025, and Richard Clay took over in February 2026 after an interim spell. Adam Wylie runs recycling.
Directors have bought small amounts of stock: Manju Malhotra bought 30,006 shares at about 66p in November 2025 and Deborah Rabey bought 13,866 shares in December 2025. Bunting exercised incentive-plan shares in late 2025 and sold some, part of it to cover tax. Aberforth Partners, the largest disclosed holder, increased its stake from 14.15% in December 2024 to 17.21% by August 2026. 4 Mar 2025 31 Jul 2025 6 May 2026 14 Nov 2025 12 Dec 2025 3 Dec 2025 9 Dec 2025 12 Dec 2024 6 Aug 2026
Ahead of expectations, with a pension question open
On 29 September 2026 the company said FY2026 results would beat market expectations, helped by the World Cup. At the half year it had bank net cash of £7.8m and free cash flow of £21.2m, which included a £7.6m working-capital timing benefit. The interim dividend was held at 1.75p, and the company has guided to 5.2p a share for FY2026 and FY2027. The shares closed September 2026 at 75.6p, up from 47.6p in October 2023.
One risk is open. In February 2026 the UK Pensions Regulator issued a Warning Notice about the former Tuffnells Parcels Express pension scheme, whose Section 75 debt is £3.5m. It is considering a Financial Support Direction against Smiths News. The company says it is too early to know whether one will be issued, or its size, and the Board believes it acted reasonably as the parent. 29 Sep 2026 6 May 2026 17 Jun 2026 23 Feb 2026
Building a national network, with numbers due in November
The first go-live of the national network is July 2027. The company says the expansion will add to earnings from FY2028 onwards. Before then, the network will cost money to set up, and the company has not yet given figures. It says it will give guidance on all four contracts at its 4 November 2026 results.
Other markers: a fleet-wide transport management system starts in the second half of 2026, and efficiencies of more than £4m are targeted for FY2026. A UK Deposit Return Scheme could add recycling volume if the government introduces it in October 2027, as it currently aims to. 17 Jun 2026 29 Jun 2026 17 Jul 2026 29 Sep 2026 6 May 2026
Written by AI from Smiths News's own announcements since Oct 2023 · every paragraph links to its sources