Holding(s) in Company

WH Smith PLC
25 January 2007




                    NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTERESTS IN SHARES


1)   NAME OF LISTED COMPANY

     WH SMITH PLC


2)   NAME OF SHAREHOLDER HAVING A MAJOR INTEREST

     SILCHESTER INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS 
     LIMITED


3)   Please state whether notification indicates that it is 
     regarding the holding of the shareholder named in 2 above;
     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 ATTACHED NOTIFICATION BELOW 


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

     SEE ATTACHED NOTIFICATION BELOW 


5)   Number of shares/amount of stock acquired.

     N/A


6)   Percentage of issued Class (any treasury shares held by the
     listed company should not be taken into account when
     calculating percentage)




7)   Number of shares/amount of stock disposed

     N/A
    

8)   Percentage of issued Class (any treasury shares held by the
     listed company should not be taken into account when
     calculating percentage)




9)   Class of security

     ORDINARY SHARES OF 20 PENCE EACH


10)  Date of transaction

     N/A


11)  Date listed company informed


     25 JANUARY 2007


12)  Total holding following this notification

     18,047,943


              
13)  Total percentage holding of issued class following this notification
     (any treasury shares held by the listed company should not be taken
     into account when calculating percentage)

     9.87%
     

14)  Any additional information





15)  Name of contact and telephone number for queries

     AMANDA LAM [phone]


16)  Name and signature of duly authorised officer of the listed company
     responsible for making this notification

                                    I HOUGHTON, COMPANY SECRETARY


     Date of Notification  25 JANUARY 2007



                                                                

 

TR-1(i):             NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTERESTS IN SHARES

 

(1). Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer of existing shares to which
voting rights are attached (ii):

WH SMITH PLC
.................

 

2. Reason for the notification (please tick the appropriate box or boxes):



An acquisition or disposal of voting rights:                               ( X )



An acquisition or disposal of financial instruments which may result 
in the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are 
attached:                                                                  (   )

 

An event changing the breakdown of voting rights:                          (   )



                                                                           
Other (please specify) :                                                   (   )

.................

 

3. Full name of person(s) subject to the notification obligation (iii):

Silchester International Investors Ltd
.................

 

4. Full name of shareholder(s) (if different from 3.) (iv):

Silchester International Investors
International Value Equity Trust


Silchester International Investors
International Value Equity Group Trust


Silchester International Investors
Tobacco Free International Value
Equity Trust

The Calleva Trust

.................



5. Date of the transaction and date on which the threshold is crossed or reached
if different) (v):

24th January 2007
.................

 

6. Date on which issuer notified:

25th January 2007

.................

 

7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or reached:

Below 10%
.................

 

8. Notified details:

Not Applicable
.................

 


 

A: Voting rights attached to shares

 
Class/type of             Situation previous to  
shares                    the Triggering       
                          transaction  

if possible using    
the ISIN CODE                       
     
                          Number of      Number 
                          of             of                            
                          shares         Voting                  
                                         Rights
                                         
GB00B17WCM17             19,470,192     19,470,192
                                                                      
                                                                      
                                                                      

 

              Resulting situation after the triggering transaction (vii)

 
Class/type of             Number of      Number of voting              % of voting rights
shares                    shares         rights               
                                                                                  

if possible using                      
the ISIN CODE                                                                         
                          Direct         Direct       Indirect         Direct     Indirect  

                          18,047,943     18,047,943                    9.87%                                        
                                                                                      

 

B: Financial Instruments

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction (xii)

 
Type of     Expiration Date  Exercise/Conversion Number of voting     % of voting     
financial   (xiii)           Period/ Date (xiv)  rights that may be   rights          
instrument                                       acquired if the                      
                                                 instrument is                        
                                                 exercised/                           
                                                 converted.                           
                                                                                      
N/A         N/A              N/A                 N/A                  N/A                            

 


Total (A+B)
Number of voting     % of voting rights 
rights                                  
                                        
18,047,943           9.87%                                        
                                        


9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or the
financial instruments are effectively held, if applicable (xv):

Not Applicable
.................



 

Proxy Voting:

 

10. Name of the proxy holder:

Silchester International Investors Ltd
.................

 

11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will cease to hold:

Not Applicable
.................



12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to hold voting rights:

Not Applicable
.................

 

13. Additional information:

Silchester International Investors Ltd ('Silchester') acts as 
investment manager for the clients detailed in Question 4 above 
(our 'Clients'). In acting for for Clients, Silchester are given
full discretion over their investment and are empowered to vote
on their behalf. However, we do not act as our Clients' custodian
and therefore shares are not held in our name but in the name of
each Clients' custodian bank.
.................

 

14. Contact name:

Timothy Linehan, Compliance Officer
.................

 

15. Contact telephone number:

0207-518-7125
.................

 

 

Annex Notification Of Major Interests In Shares (XVI)

 

A: Identity of the person or legal entity subject to the notification obligation

 

Full name (including legal form for legal entities):

Silchester International Investors Ltd
.................

 

Contact address (registered office for legal entities):

Time & Life Building 
1 Bruton Street, 5th Floor
London W1J 6TL
.................

 

Phone number:

0207-518-7125
.................

 

Other useful information (at least legal representative for legal persons):

Attn: Timothy Linehan, Compliance Officer
.................

 

B: Identity of the notifier, if applicable (xvii)

 

Full name:

Silchester International Investors Ltd
.................

 

Contact address:

Time & Life Building 
1 Bruton Street, 5th Floor
London W1J 6TL
.................

 

Phone number:

0207-518-7125
.................

 

Other useful information (e.g. functional relationship with the person or legal
entity subject to the notification obligation):

Attn: Timothy Linehan, Compliance Officer
.................

 

C: Additional information :

.................


 

Notes to the Forms

(i) This form is to be sent to the issuer or underlying issuer and to be filed
with the competent authority.

(ii) Either the full name of the legal entity or another method for identifying
the issuer or underlying issuer, provided it is reliable and accurate.

(iii) This should be the full name of (a) the shareholder; (b) the person
acquiring, disposing of or exercising voting rights in the cases provided for in
DTR5.2.1 (b) to (h); (c) all the parties to the agreement referred to in
DTR5.2.1 (a), or (d) the direct or indirect holder of financial instruments
entitled to acquire shares already issued to which voting rights are attached,
as appropriate.

In relation to the transactions referred to in points DTR5.2.1 (b) to (h), the
following list is provided as indication of the persons who should be mentioned:

- in the circumstances foreseen in DTR5.2.1 (b), the person that acquires the
voting rights and is entitled to exercise them under the agreement and the
natural person or legal entity who is transferring temporarily for consideration
the voting rights;

- in the circumstances foreseen in DTR 5.2.1 (c), the person holding the
collateral, provided the person or entity controls the voting rights and
declares its intention of exercising them, and person lodging the collateral
under these conditions;

- in the circumstances foreseen in DTR5.2.1(d), the person who has a life
interest in shares if that person is entitled to exercise the voting rights
attached to the shares and the person who is disposing of the voting rights when
the life interest is created;

- in the circumstances foreseen in DTR5.2.1 (e), the parent undertaking and,
provided it has a notification duty at an individual level under DTR 5.1, under
DTR5.2.1 (a) to (d) or under a combination of any of those situations, the
controlled undertaking;

- in the circumstances foreseen in DTR5.2.1 (f), the deposit taker of the
shares, if he can exercise the voting rights attached to the shares deposited
with him at his discretion, and the depositor of the shares allowing the deposit
taker to exercise the voting rights at his discretion;

- in the circumstances foreseen in DTR5.2.1 (g), the person that controls the
voting rights;

- in the circumstances foreseen in DTR5.2.1 (h), the proxy holder, if he can
exercise the voting rights at his discretion, and the shareholder who has given
his proxy to the proxy holder allowing the latter to exercise the voting rights
at his discretion.

(iv) Applicable in the cases provided for in DTR 5.2.1 (b) to (h). This should
be the full name of the shareholder who is the counterparty to the natural
person or legal entity referred to in DTR5.2.

(v) The date of the transaction should normally be, in the case of an on
exchange transaction, the date on which the matching of orders occurs; in the
case of an off exchange transaction, date of the entering into an agreement.

The date on which threshold is crossed should normally be the date on which the
acquisition, disposal or possibility to exercise voting rights takes effect (see
DTR 5.1.1R (3)). For passive crossings, the date when the corporate event took
effect.

(vi) Please refer to the situation disclosed in the previous notification, In
case the situation previous to the triggering transaction was below 3%, please
state 'below 3%'.

(vii) If the holding has fallen below the minimum threshold , the notifying
party should not be obliged to disclose the extent of the holding, only that the
new holding is less than 3%.

For the case provided for in DTR5.2.1(a), there should be no disclosure of
individual holdings per party to the agreement unless a party individually
crosses or reaches an Article 9 threshold. This applies upon entering into,
introducing changes to or terminating an agreement.

(viii) Direct and indirect

(ix) In case of combined holdings of shares with voting rights attached 'direct
holding' and voting rights 'indirect holdings', please split the voting rights
number and percentage into the direct and indirect columns-if there is no
combined holdings, please leave the relevant box blank.

(x) Voting rights to shares in respect of which the notifying party is a direct
shareholder (DTR 5.1)

(xi) Voting rights held by the notifying party as an indirect shareholder (DTR
5.2.1)

(xii) If the holding has fallen below the minimum threshold, the notifying party
should not be obliged to disclose the extent of the holding, only that the new
holding is below 3%.

(xiii) date of maturity / expiration of the finical instrument i.e. the date
when the right to acquire shares ends.

(xiv) If the financial instrument has such a period-please specify the period-
for example once every three months starting from the (date)

(xv) The notification should include the name(s) of the controlled undertakings
through which the voting rights are held. The notification should also include
the amount of voting rights and the percentage held by each controlled
undertaking, insofar as individually the controlled undertaking holds 5% or
more, and insofar as the notification by the parent undertaking is intended to
cover the notification obligations of the controlled undertaking.

(xvi ) This annex is only to be filed with the competent authority.

(xvii) Whenever another person makes the notification on behalf of the
shareholder or the natural person/legal entity referred to in DTR5.2 and DTR5.3




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