Shoe group Stylo has reported a pre-tax loss of £7.8 million for the year to February 2, excluding a £4.7 million loss resulting from a property impairment.

Stylo, which runs Barratts, Priceless and Shellys, also suffered a sales drop of almost 4 per cent to£223.3 million for the period.

Group chairman and chief executive Michael Ziff said: “The poor performance of the group reflects the difficult retail trading environment in which we operate, which has resulted in a number of our direct competitors being sold or closed.

“We have taken positive actions to enable us to focus on our core Barratts and Priceless fascias, including the disposal of our loss-making division Shellys and increased the depth of experience of our Barratts senior management team. We are well positioned to take advantage of any improvements in the retail environment.”

Stylo has also announced that David Patrick, who headed its Barratts division, has resigned from the retailer to pursue other career opportunities. Patrick will be replaced by David Lockyer, who is a non-executive director at Stylo.

In February, Stylo bought shoe chain Dolcis from the administrators and is negotiating with landlords to continue selling Dolcis stock from some sites before transferring the stores to its Barratts division.