Shoe Zone sales and profit hit by store closures and warm weather
Shoe Zone has seen a fall in its first half sales and profit after the value footwear retailer closed some of its loss-making stores.
Revenue reduced by 5.7% to £78.2 million in the six months to 4 April after the planned closure of nine shops in the period.
Meanwhile, pre-tax profit decreased to £2 million, which was in line with previous guidance, from £2.7 million in the same period last year.
In a statement, the company said warm weather conditions had impacted autumn/winter trading which slowed revenues towards the end of the first half. While footwear sales volumes increased, the average price was down due to the different product mix sold, with customers favouring lower priced ladies ankle boots over long leg boots.
Shoe Zone reported that its store portfolio was continuing to improve with five new openings, four relocations, 18 refits and the nine planned closures.
It added that its full launch on eBay in October 2014 was now delivering “encouraging” results, while sales on Amazon now represent 17% of multichannel revenue.
Anthony Smith, chief executive of Shoe Zone, said: “We have made solid progress across the business in the first half and are particularly pleased with the performance in multichannel, where we saw a 30% increase in revenue. We continue to rationalise our store portfolio, closing loss-making Grade 3 stores and opening more of our larger Grade 1 stores.
“We remain focused on our growth levers: extending and improving our product range to leverage our market leading position in the value sector; driving efficiency in our property portfolio; operational investment in our warehouse facilities; and enhancements to our multi-channel offering.
“Current trading has remained in line with expectations following our April trading update. Theboard continues to look to the future with confidence.”
