Connect Group, the specialist Swindon-based distributor formerly called Smiths News, has extended its newspaper wholesaling contract with Guardian News and Media to February 2021.
The £63m-per-year contract is equivalent to 7% of the national newspaper distribution market.
As a result of the extension, Smiths News has now secured around £1.2bn of revenues per year through to 2019 – some 84% of its total sales. 
Chief executive Mark Cashmore said: “We are delighted to have extended our relationship with Guardian News and Media, securing another significant publisher agreement for our newspaper and magazine distribution business.
“With 84% of newspaper distribution revenues secured to 2019 and beyond, this further endorses our market leading proposition."
Guardian News and Media publishes both The Guardian and The Observer which sell 180,000 and 200,000 papers per day respectively.
Connect Group’s News & Media division encompassing Smiths News, the UK’s largest news wholesaling business with an approximate 55% market share, distributing newspapers and magazines on behalf of all the major national publishers as well as a large number of regional publishers.
