Holding(s) in Company

Smith WH PLC
7 November 2003


                           SCHEDULE 10
 
             NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTERESTS IN SHARES


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 30 OCTOBER 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 30 OCTOBER 2003


5)   Number of shares/amount of stock acquired.
     N/A


6)   Percentage of issued Class


7)   Number of shares/amount of stock disposed
     N/A

8)   Percentage 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
     7 NOVEMBER 2003


12)  Total holding following this notification
     -

               
13)  Total percentage holding of issued class following this notification
     LESS THAN 3%


14)  Any additional information
     


15)  Name of contact and telephone number for queries
     AMANDA LAM [phone]


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

     Date of Notification
     7 NOVEMBER 2003


Letter to WH Smith plc
Dated 30 October 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 all of its subsidiary companies,
no longer have a notifiable interest in the issued share capital of your
company.

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 29 October 2003

Percentage holdings are calculated using an issued share capital of 250,491,228
ORD GBX55.555555 shares

               Registered Holder                  Holding     %

                            No Records Returned

                              End of Report

From:   M&G Investment Management Limited

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