Sales soar for Shoe Zone

For the 26 weeks to April 2 revenue was £69.9 million with shops contributing £58.1m. Digital revenue was £11.8m – down from £17.6m for the same half year in 2020-2021

The company went from a £2.6m loss a year earlier to a £3.1m pre-tax profit.

Stores traded for the full 26 weeks compared to only 10 weeks for the first half of 2020-2021 when coroanvirus lockdowns were in place.

Shoe Zone had 388 stores operating at the end of the six months with eight new hybrid stores having opened and 30 poor performing original format stores being closed.

Chief executive Anthony Smith said: "The last full year saw the business return quickly to profitability and became debt free again. Trading in the Period has continued to be positive as we build on the strategy announced in October last year and we believe we are in a strong position. The rapid recovery of our business is due mainly to the continued support of our loyal and committed staff."

The half year digital revenue is up 114.5 per cent on a two-year basis. Further investment is planned on the digital offering.

Shoe Zone is actively working to relocate and/or refit further stores in the second half of the year, with at least 20 stores currently in solicitors' hands.

The company's goal is to doubling its 'Big Box' locations to approximately 100 and increase hybrid stores to 200 in the medium term.

Shoe Zone's energy prices are fixed until September 2023 so it is not exposed to the market price increases currently being experienced and it has a number of initiatives in place to achieve its carbon neutral goal. All of its electricity consumption is from 100 per cent renewable sources