This morning Smiths News (SNWS) announced that it has won new long-term contracts for national distribution with the UK’s largest magazine distributor, Frontline Limited, and Seymour Distribution Limited, part of the Frontline Group and the UK’s largest independent magazine distributor. The agreements are for exclusive national distribution and build on similar recent contract wins. Effective from 2030, with the contract term extended to 2037, these awards provide additional long-term visibility over volumes as well as improved commercial certainty with an expected incremental revenue uplift of c £105m per year from April 2030. Taken together, the four recent awards mean SNWS has successfully secured a substantial long-term volume base of the national newspapers and magazines market.

Following the recent transformational contract win with News UK, Smiths News (SNWS) has announced that it has won a second transformational long-term national contract with Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), publisher of major titles including the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday and The i Paper. Like the News UK contract, the ANL contract is on enhanced commercial terms and includes national distribution from January 2028 with an extension in the contract term through to July 2037. SNWS expects an incremental uplift to revenue of c £105m per year from 2028. The two recent contract wins provide enhanced revenue visibility for the group, with the ANL win further supporting the establishment of an expanded national footprint by SNWS given that the two contracts represent c 36% of the national newspapers and magazines market from January 2028.

Smiths News (SNWS) has announced that it has secured a transformational long-term contract with News UK & Ireland Limited (News UK), publisher of leading UK titles including The Sun, The Times, and The Sunday Times. Key transformational aspects of the contract include: national distribution for News UK with the ability to offer this capability to other customers and verticals, an incremental revenue uplift of c £125m per annum from July 2027 (c 12% of FY26 revenue £1,032m), the long contract term through to July 2037 providing improved revenue visibility for the group (that its current contracts run to c 2029), an expected return on capital above SMWS’s hurdle rate and expected earnings accretion from FY28 onwards. We maintain our estimates and valuation and await further guidance from the board on the financial effects of the contract.