Shoe Zone sales drop… but profits rise

Shoe Zone, the Leicester-based footwear retailer, saw revenues reduce but profits increase slightly for the year-ending 1 October 2016.

Sales dropped by 4.2% to £159.8m over the year, but profits before tax rose by 1.1% from £10.1m in 2015 to £10.3m last year.

Nick Davis, chief executive of Shoe Zone, said: “I am pleased with the Group’s performance in what was a challenging retail environment. The Group’s new branding is resonating well with our customer base and we will continue to update the estate through our store rationalisation and refit programme. Our Big Box trial, which started in August 2016, is delivering encouraging results while attracting a broader customer demographic and we plan to open a further six new stores across the UK in 2017.

“We continue to make good progress on our strategic objectives and have traded in line with expectations for the first quarter of the year. The Board remains positive for the outlook of the Group and looks forward to updating shareholders on the progress of our Big Box trial.”