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Shoe Zone PLC on Tuesday said it expects to report a more than 40% drop in annual profit for its 2024 financial year, following a second half weakened by ‘unseasonal weather’ and rising costs. The Leicester, England-based footwear seller said it expects to report pretax profit of at least £9.6 million for the financial year that ended September 28, a 41% fall from £16.2 million last year. This was the result of ‘weather-impacted second-half sales performance, in conjunction with year-on-year increases in the cost of energy, depreciation, national living wage and containers prices in the second half’. It expects to report revenue of £161.3 million, falling 2.7% from £165.7 million the year before, partly due to a reduction in the number of stores during the period. Shoe Zone reduced its number of stores during the year by 8.0% to 297 from 323 last year. The company closed 53 stores, opened 29 and refitted 28, as part of its ongoing plans to re-format and relocate existing stores. It declared an interim dividend of 2.5 pence per share in August, and is due to propose a final dividend alongside the publication of its full-year results in January 2025. Chair Charles Smith said: ‘A year of two halves, with the first half trading in line with expectations and ahead of the previous year, however, the second-half trading was below expectations due to unseasonal weather conditions, particularly at peak summer. However, our key ’back to school’ period traded above expectations at the end of the year. Our digital business continued to grow, driven by the introduction of free next day delivery for all shoezone.com orders.’ Shares in Shoe Zone were down 3.0% at 155.25 pence each in London on Tuesday morning. Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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