REG - Shoe Zone PLC - Full Year Trading Update

Shoe ZoneAnnouncement

22/10/2024 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
https://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20241022:nRSV0066Ja&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 0066J  Shoe Zone PLC  22 October 2024

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute
inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No.
596/2014. It forms part of United Kingdom domestic law by virtue of the
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this
announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public
domain.

Shoe Zone plc

("Shoezone" or the "Company")

Full Year Trading Update

Shoezone is pleased to announce its unaudited full year trading update for the
52 weeks to 28 September 2024 ("FY 2024").

Financial Highlights:

·    Group revenue reduced by 2.7% to £161.3m (FY 2023: £165.7m)

·    Store numbers, in line with plan, reduced to 297 (FY 2023: 323)

·    Product margin increased to c.62.8% (FY 2023: 62.1%)

·    Adjusted profit before tax expected to be not less than £9.5m 1  (FY
2023: £16.5m)

·    Net cash of £3.7m (FY 2023: £16.4m)

 

1Adjusted to exclude the profit on sale of freehold property (one last year)
and foreign exchange revaluation.

 

Financial Summary

Revenue

Revenue in FY2024 was £161.3m (FY 2023: £165.7m). The 2.7% reduction was due
to the unseasonal weather in the second half of the year, particularly peak
summer, as well as trading out of 26 fewer stores. However, the key three
weeks of Back to School trade in August and September was positive and ahead
of the same period last year.

Product margin

Product margin increased to c.62.8% (FY 2023: 62.1%), primarily due to lower
container prices for the first half of the year. However, we started to see
container prices increase again from March 2024 onwards, impacting the second
half of the year and this will continue into H1 2025.

Profit before tax

Profit before tax is expected to be not less than £9.6m (FY 2023: £16.2m).
Adjusting for a £0.1m foreign exchange revaluation gain, the adjusted profit
before tax will be not less than £9.5m (FY2023: £16.5m). The reduction,
compared to FY2023, is due to the 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.

Net cash

We ended the year with net cash of c.£3.7m (FY 2023: £16.4m). The reduction
in net cash balance was due to dividends paid of £8.0m, the continued
investment in capital expenditure of gross £12.3m (FY2023: £11.4m), £9.4m
of which was for the store refit and relocation programme, all of which being
offset by cash generated from profitable operations.

Dividend

A 2.5 pence per share interim payment amounting to £1.2m was made in August
2024.

A final dividend, the amount of which is yet to be determined, will be
proposed in January 2025 alongside our final results.

Store numbers

We ended the year trading out of 297 (FY 2023: 323) retail stores. We closed
53 stores, opened 27 and refitted 28. The portfolio is made up of 112 original
High Street stores and 185 larger new format stores. We are continuing our
strategy to expand the number of new format stores through relocations and
refits of existing High Street stores.

 

Charles Smith, Chairman stated:

"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. "

We will provide a more detailed update at the time of our final results in
January 2025.

I would like to thank all of our teams for their continued commitment and hard
work that have produced these results."

 

 

For further information please call:

Shoe Zone
PLC
Tel: +44 (0) 116 222 3001

Charles Smith (Chairman)

Terry Boot (Finance Director)

 

Zeus (Nominated Adviser and
Broker)
                Tel: +44 (0) 203 829 5000

David Foreman, James Hornigold, Ed Beddows (Investment Banking)

Dominic King (Corporate Broking)

About Shoezone

Shoezone is a Town Centre, Retail Park and Digital footwear retailer, offering
low price, high quality footwear for the whole family.

Shoezone operates from a portfolio of 297 stores and has approximately 2,250
employees across the UK.

The store portfolio consists of 112 original high street store and 185 larger
format stores. The new format stores sell additional brands such as Skechers,
Hush Puppies, Rieker and Lilly & Skinner.

shoezone.com combined with the store network, ensures a full multi-channel
offering for great customer service.

During an average year Shoe Zone sells 13.9 million pairs of shoes per annum
at an average retail price of c.£13.30.

 

 

(#_ftnref1)

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  TSTMZMZGKMMGDZM