Agenda: Travis Perkins, Shoe Zone and Shop Direct update the market

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Retail Week looks ahead to the next seven days with updates from Travis Perkins, Shoe Zone and Shop Direct on the agenda.

Travis Perkins

Travis Perkins posts it third-quarter results on Tuesday.

The DIY giant firmed up plans to offload DIY chain Wickes in July – and said it hopes to complete the demerger within the next year.

The builders’ merchant revealed last December that it was to “review options” for Wickes, as part of a drive to “simplify” the wider group and maximise value for shareholders.

The retailer registered like-for-like sales growth of 9.7% in the six months to June 30, driving adjusted operating profit up 49% to £52m.

Travis Perkins’ retail division, which also includes Tile Giant, raked in £695m in sales during the period.

As a whole, the Travis Perkins group, which also has merchanting and plumbing and heating divisions, enjoyed a 14.7% increase in adjusted operating profit to £195m, on sales of £2.7bn.

Shop Direct

Shop Direct posts its full-year results on Wednesday.

Pre-tax losses amounted to £24.7m in the year to June 30, 2018, in contrast to a full-year profit of £24.9m the previous year, driven by the cost of PPI claims by its customers.

The fashion retailer that owns Very and Littlewoods said EBITDA was up 11% to £262.3m and operating profit was up 9.5% to £224.6m during the period.

The retailer’s group revenue rose 1.5% to £1.9bn with Very driving growth and Littlewoods slowing. Very sales rose 9.9% to £1.3bn in, while Littlewoods’ revenue fell 14.5% to £569.7m.

During the period, orders made on the Very smartphone app increased by 39.5%, while website visits were up 11.6%.

Shoe Zone

Shoe Zone posts a pre-close update on Friday.

The value footwear retailer posted a profit warning in August following months of tough trading.

Shoe Zone said trading since its interim results in May had been “challenging” as strong performances across its big-box stores and ecommerce platform had “been offset by the tough high street trading environment”.

As a result, the retailer said it “now expects to deliver a full-year performance below its expectations”.

It also flagged that it was writing down the value of its 17 freehold properties by £3.1m to £5.3m, resulting in a non-exceptional cash charge in its full-year results.