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23 August 2012 11:27
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The phenomenal success of Fifty Shades Of Grey and similar copycat books gave WH Smith's stores a boost, the retailer said today.
The erotic novel has sold more than five million copies, making it the best-selling book in the UK since records began.
WH Smith said its 600 high street stores have seen a boost from the trilogy and a raft of similar "passion" books that have proved popular in its wake in the year to August 31st.
WH Smith said its results for the year would be at the top end of expectations and announced it would return a further £50 million to shareholders.
The chain has recently launched its Kobo e-reader to compete with Amazon's Kindle and is expected to give an update on its performance in its full-year results in October.
Shareholders will be keen to learn whether the strong run of books sales has continued into the new year, following the success of Fifty Shades Of Grey which is written by EL James.
Its publisher Random House recently said the book had sold 5.3 million copies, including 1.5 million e-books. The trilogy in total has sold more than 12 million copies in the UK.
