Shoe Zone PLC (AIM:SHOE) has raised its full-year profit forecast again and announced that shareholders will receive a second interim dividend.
In a trading update, the footwear retailer said it now expects adjusted pre-tax profits for the year to 1 October 2022 to be not less than £11mln, compared with £9.5mln in the prior year. The company has revised up its profit guidance several times during the latest financial year; in August it forecast £10.5mln, up from expectations of £9.5mln in July and £8.5mln in June.
Shoe Zone said it will pay shareholders a second interim dividend of 3p per share, totalling £1.5mln, in addition to the previously announced interim payout of 2.5p.
The company said its revenue increased by 31.2% to £156.2mln. The company pointed out that its stores traded for the full 52 weeks, compared to 36 weeks in full-year 2021, when COVID-19 lockdown restrictions were still in place for part of the period.
The return of customers to physical stores resulted in store revenue growing to £129.8mln from £88.5mln, while digital revenue fell to £26.4mln from £30.6mln. The product margin was unchanged at 61.3%.
Net cash stood at £24.4mln at the year-end, up from £14.6mln at the end of FY2021.
Shoe Zone had 360 retail stores at the year-end, comprising 271 original Shoe Zone stores, 45 Big Box and 44 Hybrid stores. It sold 14 freehold properties, generating a profit of £1.4mln.
"We continue our strategy to expand our Hybrid and Big Box formats via refits and relocations. Shoe Zone continues to show how resilient it is, with a proven track record of delivering robust results during times of economic uncertainty,” commented the company's chief executive Anthony Smith in the full year trading update.