Schuh has revealed rising profits and sales in its full-year results, as it continues to press ahead with store expansion.

Pre-tax profits rose 9.3% to £16.6m in the year to end of January, while sales rose 5.3% to £280.9m.

The footwear retailer highlighted that children’s shoes were a major focus during the year and that the category continued to “thrive”.

New stores

It opened two new standalone kids stores in Westfield Stratford City and in Bluewater.

It also opened three hybrid stores – combining a traditional Schuh with a kids’ department – in the UK in Aberdeen, Chelmsford and Romford.

Another hybrid store in Essen became its third German store. The only standard adult store to open during the period was in Luton.

The new stores all feature freestanding kiosks and handheld payment machines rather than conventional cash desks.

The retailer explained that the “simple change significantly speeds up the average customer journey” and gave it more selling space.

Finance and HR director David Gillan-Reid said: “We had a more challenging start to the year but trade picked up over Christmas and we finished the year in a good position.”

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