Holding(s) in Company

Smith WH PLC
9 June 2003


                  DEALINGS BY SUBSTANTIAL SHAREHOLDERS


1)   NAME OF COMPANY

WH SMITH PLC


2)   NAME OF SHAREHOLDER HAVING A MAJOR INTEREST

PRUDENTIAL PLC


3)   Please state whether notification indicates that it is in respect of 
     holding of the Shareholder named in 2 above or in respect of a 
     non-beneficial interest or in the case of an individual holder if it is a
     holding of that person's spouse or children under the age of 18

SEE LETTER BELOW DATED 3 JUNE 2003


4)   Name of the registered holder(s) and, if more than one holder, the 
     number of shares held by each of them.

SEE LETTER BELOW DATED 3 JUNE 2003


5)   Number of shares/amount of stock acquired.

N/A


6)   ( %) of issued Class

7)   Number of shares/amount of stock disposed

N/A


8)   ( %) of issued Class

9)   Class of security

ORDINARY SHARES OF 55 5/9 PENCE EACH


10)  Date of transaction

N/A


11)  Date company informed

6 JUNE 2003


12)  Total holding following this notification

7,695,112

               
13)  Total percentage holding of issued class following this notification

3.07%


14)  Any additional information



15)  Name of contact and telephone number for queries

A LAM [phone]


16)  Name and signature of authorised company official responsible for 
     making this notification

     I HOUGHTON

     Date of Notification .......9 JUNE 2003.......



To: WH Smith plc
Dated: 3 June 2003

Companies Act 1985 (as amended):
Disclosure of Interests in Shares

In accordance with Part VI of the Companies Act 1985 (as amended) (the 'Act'),
we write to inform you that Prudential plc and certain of its subsidiary
companies have a notifiable interest in the issued share capital of your
company as detailed in the schedule below.

For the purposes of S210 of the Act, the address for those companies identified
in the schedule below is Laurence Pountney Hill London EC4R 0HH.


             Notifiable Position Report for SMITH WH ORD GBX55.555555
                               as at 04 June 2003

Percentage holdings are calculated using an issued share capital of 249,899,308
ORD GBX55.555555 shares

                 Registered Holder                  Holding     %

Prudential plc                                    7,695,112     3.07   Total Notifiable Interest
                 DEXIA BANK INTL                     13,000               
                 M&G (LOMBARD ST) NOMS FPE           49,652
                 MAGIM HSBC GIS NOM(UK) SALI        149,300 
                 PRUCLT HSBC GIS NOM(UK) PAC AC   5,594,468  
                 PRUCLT HSBC GIS NOM(UK) PPL AC   1,149,664
                 ROY NOMINEES 578079                147,290
                 ROY NOMS LTD 578052                 84,377
                 ROY NOMS LTD 578141                166,959 
                 ROY NOMS LTD 578192                340,402
                              

From:   M&G Investment Management Limited
 

                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange