WHSmith has continued its march into the US by snapping up North American retailer Marshall Retail for $400 million US  (£312 million).

Executives said they had first started watching the business around four years ago when they made an active decision to pursue the $3.2 billion (£2.5 billion) US travel market.

The previous owner of Marshall launched a sales process over the summer as WHSmith came out on top.

It means the retailer now has a further 170 stores in North America, including 59 in airports, with the remaining in busy tourist hotspots including Las Vegas.

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Incoming chief executive Carl Cowling, who starts the new job in November, said: "We've known the business for about four years. We've been watching the market for years trying to think of the best ways to break in."

The deal comes a year after WHSmith bought travel accessories business InMotion for £155 million.

Outgoing chief executive Stephen Clarke said the InMotion integration is ahead of schedule and that the company recently won its first tender for a US airport to open a WHSmith-style store - although he said the branding would be different and in keeping with the airport owner's demands.

He said: "This win shows our strategy of working with airports remains successful and that airports trust us and our strategy.

"Although this won't be a WHSmith store, I believe you will see a WHSmith store in a US airport at some point."

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The news came as the retailer revealed that sales jumped 11% across the business to £1.4 billion.

The travel division grew 22% to £817 million - primarily due to the purchase of InMotion - or up 3% on a like-for-like basis.

Trading profits in the division jumped £117 million.

On the high street, where WHSmith has 576 stores, sales fell 2% to £580 million and profits were flat at £60 million, although Mr Clarke pointed out: "Profits were flat last year and you won't find many retailers who'll say that."

Pre-tax profits for the group in the year to August 31 were up 1% to £135 million.

Travel is the biggest driver for WHSmith and now accounts for two-thirds of profits for the business.

The British arm of Domino's has said it is planning to withdraw from its foreign markets as they continue to decline.

Outgoing chief executive David Wild said that a review had concluded Domino's would be better off selling the business, which stretches across Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

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"We have concluded that, whilst they represent attractive markets, we are not the best owners of these businesses. The board has therefore decided to exit the markets in an orderly manner," he said.

It comes as sales in the markets dropped 2.7% to £25.2 million. However, when cutting out the effects of the stores it sold, and fluctuations in currency, there was no change.

Wayne Brown, an analyst at Liberum, said the international exit was "likely to be complex".

The number of customers changing energy supplier remained strong in the third quarter of the year, pushing up Moneysupermarket's top line, despite predictions that Ofgem's new price cap would hit switching.

The company said overall revenue had grown 4% over the period, hitting £100.9 million.

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Home services, which includes energy, increased 21%, insurance revenues were up 3%. But due to "continuing challenges in product availability", its money business unit shrank by 5% to £20.6m.

The introduction in January of an upper limit on energy prices for some customers had sparked fears that the number of customers changing to a better deal - a key part of Moneysupermarket's revenues - would drop. However the latest available figures, from August, show that switching is actually on the rise.

"The group continued to grow in the quarter, with strong trading in energy showing that there are still big savings to be made by customers even though the price cap is lower," chief executive Mark Lewis said.