Sterling woes hit Shoe Zone profits

The devaluation of sterling against the dollar is being blamed for a drop in profits at Leicester-based retailer Shoe Zone.

Profits at the firm for the six months to 1 April dropped from £1.7m in 2016 to £1.3m this year, while revenue also fell back to £72.9m from £74.6m last year. Shoe Zone said this was down to a “rationalisation of the retail store estate”.

Nick Davis, chief executive of Shoe Zone, said: “I am pleased with the Group’s performance in the first half as we continued to actively manage the retail estate while driving profitable sales. The devaluation of sterling against the dollar has impacted the Group’s statutory profits in the period however as we reach the annualised rebasing of this rate, we anticipate the ongoing impact will be significantly reduced.”

“Our Big Box trial has continued to perform well and as such, we will accelerate roll out of the concept during the second half of 2017. We aim to have 10 Big Box stores by the end of 2017 and will continue with the planned growth in subsequent years.”

“The Group has traded broadly in line with management’s expectations since the period end and the Board continues to look to the future with confidence.”

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