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Footwear retailer Shoe Zone swung to a first-half loss and scrapped its interim dividend, as sales were crimped by Covid-19 lockdowns.
Pre-tax losses for the six months through 6 April, amounted to £2.5m, compared to a profit of £1.0m on-year.
Sales slid 5.6% to £68.9m, after having grown 2.6% in the period up until the end of February.
All of the company's retail stores closed on 24 March and 416 stores in England, Northern Ireland and Ireland had re-opened by 15 June, in line with government guidelines.
Wales would open on 28 June and Scotland would start to open on 29 June, the company said.
Shoe Zone said it had sourced a £15m loan backed by the UK government, of which £10m has been drawn down to date.
The company said it had suffered additional financial impacts post the balance sheet date worth £1.2m, including a £0.9m write down of freehold asset values.
The hit also included £0.3m of redundancy costs associated with a head office rationalisation programme.
Shoe Zone said a review of the viability of all its stores continued post exit from lockdowns.
'Covid-19 will continue to have an unprecedented impact on the UK economy and the retail industry,' it said.
'Whilst the group has taken all possible steps to ensure that the business will survive through the crisis and continue into the future, the impact is likely to continue to be felt for several years.'
'As a result of this and following an extensive review of the store portfolio Shoe Zone has closed an additional 20 stores during lockdown and will only open 470 when permitted.'
'The group has also taken immediate action to reduce costs at head office and pause all areas of discretionary spend.'
'Negotiations with landlords have also been accelerated and supplier orders reduced, cancelled or deferred as far as possible.'
