Morning:
14°c
The country's biggest distributor of newspapers and magazines, Smiths News, has had a hectic year, buying a large chunk of one of its former rivals Dawson and the book distributor Bertram when Woolworth went into administration.
Chief executive Mark Cashmore said that the deals would add £459 million to revenues in the coming year, while costs could be reduced by £3.3 million a year.
He added that there had been recent signs of improvement in both the newspaper and magazine markets.
Smiths' underlying profit fell 6% to £30.5 million on revenues 7% higher at £1.33 billion in the year to August. Its dividend is tweaked up from 6.7p to 6.8p a share.
Last month the Office of Fair Trading lifted the threat of a Competition Commission probe into the distribution industry.
