{"id":370388,"date":"2026-01-15T01:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T01:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/370388\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T01:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T01:12:14","slug":"uk-high-street-giant-hammers-rachel-reeves-budget-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/370388\/","title":{"rendered":"UK high street giant hammers Rachel Reeves\u2019 Budget | UK | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A high street<\/a> giant has blamed Rachel Reeves<\/a>‘ “highly adverse” Budget measures for its plunging profits. Retailer Shoe Zone warned earnings are set to fall again due to tough trading.<\/p>\n

The chain saw its shares drop 22% in morning trading on Tuesday after it revealed pre-tax profits slumped by more than two-thirds to \u00a33.3million in the year to September 27, down from \u00a310.1m the previous year. It said trading remained under pressure at the start of 2025-26 amid weak consumer confidence. Shoe Zone said Budget measures had sent costs soaring and weighed on shoppers’ spending.<\/p>\n

It is forecasting profits will fall to about \u00a31m in the year to October \u2013 down by 70% year on year.<\/p>\n

Shoe Zone Chairman, Charles Smith, said: “Trading conditions remained challenging in the first quarter of the new financial year, with revenue down on forecast, reflecting ongoing macro-economic pressures that continue to weigh on consumer confidence resulting in lower footfall on the UK high street, alongside the highly adverse Government fiscal policies.<\/p>\n

“The Government’s November 2025 budget included an additional increase in the National Living Wage, raising our cost base further, with broader measures not materially improving consumer sentiment.”<\/p>\n

In November, the Government announced the National Living Wage would increase to \u00a312.71 per hour for those aged 21 or over in a boost for workers but hit to business.<\/p>\n

Shoe Zone has seen its shares sink to the lowest level for five years in recent months as its trading woes have deepened.<\/p>\n

It saw store sales drop 10.3% to \u00a3113.1m over 2024-25, having ended the year with 28 fewer stores on a net basis, at 269 in total. The retailer shut 39 shops but opened 11, while also revamping six to a larger format.<\/p>\n

Mr Smith said Government policy weighed on the previous year, but added other factors also impacted trading.<\/p>\n

He said: “Persistent inflation, higher interest rates<\/a> and reduced disposable income contributed to negative economic and consumer sentiment in the UK.<\/p>\n

“Sales were good when there was a reason to buy – such as the warm summer and the back-to-school period. However, discretionary spending remained subdued as consumers exercised greater caution in what they were spending money on.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A high street giant has blamed Rachel Reeves‘ “highly adverse” Budget measures for its plunging profits. Retailer Shoe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[15836,84,1294,59,1126,1445,141379,141382,141380,141385,141384,141383,141381,141386,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-370388","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-budget-2025","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-gb","12":"tag-high-street","13":"tag-rachel-reeves","14":"tag-shoe-zone","15":"tag-shoe-zone-latest","16":"tag-shoe-zone-news","17":"tag-shoe-zone-profits","18":"tag-shoe-zone-share-price","19":"tag-shoe-zone-trading-figures","20":"tag-shoe-zone-update","21":"tag-shoe-zone-warning","22":"tag-uk","23":"tag-united-kingdom","24":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}