Smiths News, the newspaper, magazine and book wholesaler, said it was on track to deliver strong profit growth in the current financial year, in line with market expectations.

The group's latest interim statement, covering the 19 weeks to January 12th, shows total revenues up 2% year-on-year, boosted by the acquisition of education supplies firm, The Consortium.

Smiths News total revenues fell by 1.9% and by 4.7% on a like-for-like basis, but the company said newspaper and magazine performance was broadly in line with recent run rates and with expectations.

Its bookseller, Bertrams, saw total revenues rise by 4.4% and by 1.5% on a like-for-like basis.

UK wholesale print revenues were broadly in line with last year, combined UK public and academic library revenues were marginally down, while international revenues were up and digital revenues continued to grow strongly, the firm said.

Total revenues from The Consortium increased by 5% and by 5.1% on a like-for-like basis.

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