WH Smith is to sell its 480 retail stores to the Hobbycraft owner, Modella Capital, in a deal worth £76m, and has confirmed that the 233-year-old brand will disappear from the high street after a “short transitional period”.

Under the terms of the deal, the high street business, which employs 5,000 staff, will be rebranded as TGJones, while WH Smith is retaining its brand for its travel shops.

The books and stationery retailer, which will keep its almost 1,300 travel stores and online business, said that it was also looking at “strategic options” including a sale of its digital greetings card business Funky Pigeon.

Last month, industry experts predicted that at least half of the 480 WH Smith high street stores – which sell newspapers, books, stationery, cards and gifts – could be closed after a sale, raising the prospect of sweeping job cuts.

The deal gives the WH Smith high street business an enterprise value of £76m on a cash and debt-free basis.

While WH Smith says it will realise £52m in cash proceeds, it will pocket only £25m after “transaction and separation costs”.

Carl Cowling, the group chief executive at WH Smith, said: “As we continue to deliver on our strategic ambition to become the leading global travel retailer, this is a pivotal moment for WH Smith as we become a business exclusively focused on travel.

“As our travel business has grown, our UK high street business has become a much smaller part of the WH Smith Group. High street is a good business; it is profitable and cash generative with an experienced and high-performing management team.

“However, given our rapid international growth, now is the right time for a new owner to take the high street business forward.”

WH Smith said that, in its last financial year, three-quarters of group revenues and 85% of trading profit was derived from its travel business, which operates in 32 countries.

In the year to the end of August, the travel operation reported £1.46bn in revenue and £189m in profit.