Shoe Zone's FY22 revenues increase by 31.2 percent

In the 52 weeks to October 1, 2022, revenues at Shoe Zone plc were 156.2 million pounds compared to 119.1 million pounds last year. This represents an increase of 31.2 percent on FY21.

The company’s digital revenues decreased by 13.6 percent to 26.4 million pounds and represented 16.9 percent of group revenue. The company said in a release that the reduction reflects a return to a normalised level of revenue post pandemic and is in line with management expectations.

Commenting on the annual trading update, Shoe Zone’s chief executive, Anthony Smith said: "We continue our strategy to expand our Hybrid and Big Box formats via refits and relocations. Shoe Zone continues to show how resilient it is, with a proven track record of delivering robust results during times of economic uncertainty."

Product margin remained at 61.3 percent. Shoe Zone expects adjusted pre-tax profit to be not less than 11 million pounds.

The company paid an interim dividend of 2.5 pence per share in August. In addition, the company’s board has announced a one off second interim dividend of 3 pence per share payable on December 21, 2022.

The company added that it started its share buy-back programme in August 2022 and as at the year-end had purchased 955,813 shares of which 500,000 have been cancelled at an average price of 1.79 pounds. The current phase completes at the end of November 2022 and the board expects to continue the buy-back programme for the foreseeable future.

Shoe Zone ended the year trading out of 360 retail stores. The company has closed 63 stores, opened 13 and refitted 11. The total is made up of 271 original Shoe Zone stores, 45 Big Box and 44 Hybrid stores. In the year under review, the company sold 14 freehold properties which generated a profit on sale of 1.4 million pounds.