Shoe Zone on the back foot after H1 revenues trip up

Footwear retailer Shoe Zone was on the back foot early on Tuesday after reporting a slight widening of interim statutory pre-tax losses as revenues slumped amid the Covid-19 pandemic and its associated lockdown measures.

Shoe Zone said on Tuesday that first-half revenues were down 41.36% at £40.4m, with a 220% uptick in digital revenues to £17.6m not doing enough to offset a 64% decline to £22.8m in revenues from its storefront locations.

As a result, the AIM-listed group posted a statutory interim pre-tax loss of £2.6m, a modest widening of the £2.5m loss revealed at the same time a year ago, principally due to tight cost control measures and the previously mentioned increase in digital sales. On a per share basis, statutory losses widened from 4.1p to 4.2p.

Shoe Zone also stated that, same as last year, no interim dividend would be paid.

Chief executive Anthony Smith said: "The last 12 months have been like no other in the company's history. The Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge social and economic impact around the world and has led to huge consequences for all businesses, including our own, as we have had to adapt and change to meet the significant challenges in the last year and I thank our loyal and committed staff during this period.

"However, we have come through this challenging period and are now in position to continue our strategy going forward, with the assumption that no further lockdowns are required."

As of 0945 BST, Shoe Zone shares had slumped 7.43% to 68.50p.