WH Smith is threatening to cut up to 1,500 jobs after taking a huge hit during lockdown.
The retailer said its airport and railway station stores had been particularly badly affected while its high street stores were also significantly down.
Management said they have started consulting with staff about a major restructuring.
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Only half of WH Smith’s travel stores are currently open, although most main branches have either reopened or remained open throughout the pandemic for their post office services.
In all 246 of its largest airport and station stores are trading, which account for about 75 per cent of sales in that sector.
All 575 of its high street stores have opened, the business said, but footfall is strongly down compared with last year.
Total group revenues were down 83 per cent in April (compared to the same month in 2019), and remained 57 per cent down last month.
Travel branch trade was down 73 per cent last month compared to July 2019.
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The high street side of the business was still down 25 per cent down in July compared with the same months in 2019.
Chief executive Carl Cowling said: “Covid-19 continues to have a significant impact on the WH Smith Group.
“Throughout the pandemic, we have responded quickly and taken decisive actions to protect the business including substantially strengthening our financial position.
“We have also welcomed support from Government where available.
“In our travel business, while we are beginning to see early signs of recovery in some of our markets, the speed of recovery continues to be slow.
“At the same time, while there has been some progress in our High Street business, it does continue to be adversely affected by low levels of footfall.
“As a result, we now need to take further action to reduce costs across our businesses.
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“I regret that this will have an impact on a significant number of colleagues whose roles will be affected by these necessary actions, and we will do everything we can to support them at this challenging time.
“While we are mindful of the continuing uncertainties that exist, we are a resilient and versatile business.
“The operational actions we are taking along with the financing arrangements that are in place, put us in a strong position to navigate this time of uncertainty and we are well positioned to benefit in due course from the recovery of our key markets.”
The US arm should recover quicker, the company said, as most flyers travel domestically.
Revenue in the travel business there is down 80 per cent, but the 147 open stores are seeing an "encouraging performance," WH Smith said.
The company said its loss before tax is likely to reach between £70 million and £75 million for the year ending August 31.
The results will be announced in November.
The news comes a day after Pizza Express warned up to 1,100 jobs are at risk after announcing proposals to close around 67 sites.
And on Monday DW Sports said it was in administration, with 1,700 jobs put at risk, after its income was hit by the Government-enforced closure of gyms and stores due to the Covid lockdown.