Smiths News has announced a 0.2% revenue increase in the second half of the financial year.

The company’s half-year trading update attributes its “strong performance” to a “combination of sustained margin mix, tight cost control and new profit streams”. They also note a significant revenue boost from “improved volumes from the World Cup and one-off events” as well as higher cover prices in the second half of the financial year.

Smiths News has added a number of these new profit streams to its services, including Smiths News Recycle, which sees Smiths delivery vans collect recyclable cardboard and plastic from stores, as well as distributing new products such as DVDs and books into supermarkets on behalf of magazine distributor Frontline.

The results also confirm that Smiths News is in discussion with “leading UK publishers” to renew more contracts within the next year.

Chief executive officer Jonathan Bunting said: “In what has been a challenging period for the wider economy, our strategy of securing operational efficiencies, while enhancing core operations and developing adjacent revenues, has been central to mitigating the impacts of inflation. We remain focused on providing an excellent service to our industry partners and expect to continue delivering a consistent financial performance.”

Smiths News announced expectations of adjusted operating profit and year-on-year growth “in line with market expectations” for 2023.