W H Smith PLC – Annual report – 31 August 2025
Industry: retail
1. Material accounting policies (extract)
New standards adopted by the Group
The Group has adopted the following standards and interpretations which became mandatory for the year ended 31 August 2025:
The Group has considered the above new standards and amendments and has concluded, with the exception of the IAS 1 amendments, that they are either not relevant to the Group or they do not have a material impact on the Group’s consolidated financial statements.
The IAS 1 amendments in respect of current and non-current classification of liabilities remove the requirement that the right to defer settlement be unconditional. Under the amended standard, in order to classify liabilities as non-current, the right to defer settlement must have substance and exist at the reporting date.
The Group considers in respect of its revolving credit facility, which has a maturity date of 13 June 2030 and carries financial covenants, there is not a right to defer settlement for at least 12 months from the reporting date following announcement of the accelerated supplier income recognition in the North America division. Whilst waivers were subsequently agreed with lenders, these were not in place at 31 August 2025. As a result, the amounts drawn down under the facility (£141 million) are presented as a current liability. As the accelerated supplier income recognition issue also impacts prior periods, the Group has concluded that the right to defer settlement did not exist in prior periods and has therefore presented amounts drawn down under the facility as a current liability for the years ended 31 August 2024 and 31 August 2023 as previously reported. The Group anticipates that such amounts may be reclassified to non-current liabilities in future reporting periods.
Accounts examples 