WH Smith to claw back £1.5m from ex-bosses after accounting scandal

WH Smith is to claw back around £1.5 million in overpaid bonuses from former bosses following an accounting blunder at the retail firm’s US arm.

The travel retail specialist confirmed last week it is being investigated by the UK’s financial watchdog after it overstated profits for its North American business by as much as £50 million due to issues with its audit process.

Carl Cowling resigned as WH Smith’s chief executive last month after a report by Deloitte confirmed the accounting problems.

The company said on Wednesday in its annual report that annual bonus payments for Mr Cowling and former finance chief Robert Moorhead have been recalculated for 2023 and 2024.

It has also recalculated the payment of long-term share bonuses from a 2021 scheme for executives.

WH Smith said it overpaid Mr Cowling £516,000 in cash and 60,182 deferred shares worth £374,933 based on the latest closing price for the firm.

It overpaid Mr Moorhead by £372,000 in cash and £272,493 worth of shares.

It said it would now seek to “claw back” both of these payments from the former bosses.

WH Smith also confirmed that it did not pay annual or long-term bonuses to Mr Cowling for the past financial year.

As a result, his total pay deal tumbled to £724,000 for the year to August 2025, from £2.71 million for the same period a year earlier.

The retailer told investors last week that it had kickstarted a remediation plan, which aims to strengthen its governance and controls, ensure processes are aligned across the group, and enact cultural change involving training and monitoring.

Its board is currently searching for a permanent group chief executive.

WH Smith is now focused solely on its 1,300 shops in global travel locations, including at airports and train stations, after selling its high street chain of about 480 shops to Hobbycraft owner Modella Capital in June.

As part of the deal, the WH Smith name is disappearing from British high streets and being replaced by brand TGJones.

The slimmed-down business reported a pre-tax profit of £108 million for the year to the end of August, excluding what it deems one-off costs.