Shoe Zone PLC (AIM:SHOE)’s shares kicked ahead 7.3% in early trading after the shoe retailer reported strong growth in full-year profits and sales.
The group had already raised profit expectations in October and delivered on those forecasts with adjusted full-year pre-tax profits of £11.2mln, up from £9.5mln.
Revenue rose to £156.2mln from £119.1mln last year with store revenue of £129.8mln, up from £88.6mln although digital revenue fell to £26.4m from £30.5mln.
Shoe Zone also paid a special dividend of 8.2p, a final dividend of 3.3p and launched a £1.7mln share buy-back.
Product margins were broadly in line with last year at 61.2% (2021: 61.5%), reflecting higher container prices and as a higher mix of lower margin branded product were offset by improved stock management due to less supply chain volatility.