Financial Highlights
Revenue reduced by 3.5% to £166.8m (2014: £172.9m) reflecting the planned closure of loss making stores and difficult trading conditions in H1 2015
Product gross margin strengthened to 61.5% (2014: 61.3%)
Profit before tax reduced by 3.4% to £10.1m (2014: £10.5m)
Earnings per share flat at 16.2p (2014: 16.1p)
Strong cash conversion with cash balance of £14.2m (2014: £9.1m)
Board proposing two dividends to be paid:
o Final dividend of 6.5p per share
o Special dividend of 6.0p per share
Operational Highlights
Excellent progress on strategic objectives:
o Store portfolio management improving profitability, with rents at lease renewal down 27.2%
o Product orders placed directly with overseas factories increased to 62.1% (2014: 53.1%), driving margin improvements
o 12 new store openings, 40 store refits creating an additional 28 Grade 1 stores
o Fully responsive upgraded website launched; mobile and tablet visits represented 66% of online traffic with conversion rates increasing across all devices
o Started selling in over 30 additional countries via Amazon and eBay
Post period end, opened six new stores with a further four refits
Anthony Smith, Chief Executive of Shoe Zone plc, said:
"Although 2015 was a difficult year for the footwear industry, we have achieved a solid performance. We have continued our focus on our strategic objectives and this has ensured we are well placed for the future. There is extensive work underway to increase the Grade 1 store portfolio and we are targeting an additional 56 stores to be operational by the beginning of February.
"We are also excited to be trialling "Project Big Box" in August 2016 which will involve three stores that will be twice the average size of a Grade 1 store. The trial stores will benefit from an extended product range, higher priced footwear and will allow us to benefit from the out of town market. This trial will create a strong avenue for new growth outside of Shoe Zone's traditional portfolio."
