BUDGET footwear retailer Shoe Zone suffered a slump in profit last year after it was forced to take a £2.9m hit on the value of 17 properties.

Statutory profit before tax dropped from £9.6m to £6.7m after the company reported a £2.9m writedown on the value of 17 freehold properties.

Underlying profit before tax slipped from £11.3m to £9.6m, due to rising operating costs related to new stores openings and an increase in minimum wage.

Shoe Zone said it reassessed the value of its freehold property portfolio to "reflect the current retail property environment".

The company opened 24 stores in the period, and closed 16, bringing its total number of branches to 500.

Of the new stores, 21 openings were the continued rollout of Shoe Zone's out-of-town Big Box format, two were standard high street branches and one was a hybrid between the two.

Shoe Zone chief executive Anthony Smith said: "Despite it being a difficult year for Shoe Zone, the business has achieved revenue growth, and delivered underlying profit before tax marginally ahead of our revised expectations following our revaluation of freehold property."

(c) 2020 City A.M., source Newspaper