Shoe Zone has said that despite difficult trading conditions, it expects its pre-tax profit before exceptional items to be in line with its revised expectations.
In a full year pre-close update, the retailer said that revenues in the 53 weeks to October 5th reached approximately £161.9 million compared to £160.6 million in the previous year.
Shoe Zone said back in August that it had been experiencing challenging trading conditions in the second half of its financial year. The retailer has managed to remain on track through strong online business and big box format stores.
The retailer ended the year with 500 stores after opening 24 new stores and closing 16 stores. 21 of the 24 new stores were in the big box format, meaning it now operates 40 big box stores in the UK.
Anthony Smith, Shoe Zone chief executive, said: “Shoe Zone has ended this difficult year in line with our revised expectations. It is early days in the new financial year, but we have been encouraged by the performance so far. There are a further twenty big box openings planned for the coming year which, alongside our strong digital momentum, will continue to drive growth in the future.”
