Shoe Zone profit nudges up despite drop in revenue

Shoe Zone reported a 1.1% rise in pre-tax profit for the 52 weeks ended 1 October, despite a small drop in revenue, which reflected the planned closure of loss-making stores and difficult trading conditions in the first half.

Pre-tax profit at the discount shoe retailer nudged up to £10.3m from £10.1m, while revenue declined 4.2% to £159.8m.

Earnings per share were up 4.3% to 16.9p, and the company saw strong cash conversion with a cash balance of £15m versus £14.2m the year before.

The final dividend was lifted to 6.8p from 6.5p in 2015, taking the total dividend for the year to 10.1p from 9.7p per share, with a special dividend of 8p per share, up from 6p.

Chief executive Nick Davis 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."

At 1016 GMT, the shares were up 1.6% to 185.50p.