That's what The Business Online is reporting, as sources tell them WHSmith -- which used to be a bunch of real bookstores until they decided food and stationery made them more money -- is considering a bid on Ottakar's as part of "a move to refocus its business on traditional high-performing product categories such as books." Any such interest stems from the recent success of 4 new WHSmith standalone bookstores in Brentwood, Barnet, Beverley and Kidderminster, and CEO Kate Swann is thinking of adding more stores throughout the UK.

Says Seymour Pierce retail analyst Richard Ratner: "I would not rule out a bid for Ottakar's. In recent years they [WH Smith] seemed to have slipped in both market share and profitability and were perceived to be leading the discounting on the high street. But they are now moving towards the Ottakar's mould."

Meanwhile, Ottakar's is expected to announce that its pretax profits have plummeted sharply from 7 million pounds to about 1.5 million pounds, according to the Scotsman. What's to blame for the decline? Heavy discounting at rivals such as Waterstone's and online rival Amazon.com, natch...