THOUSANDS of staff at fashion footwear retailer Schuh are to share a £25million windfall after a successful year for the West Lothian-based company.

The company, which has its headquarters in Livingston and has more than 500 staff in Scotland, confirmed the payouts after announcing annual profits of more than £11.5m.

It will be shared amongst 3500 UK-wide staff following the maturing of a scheme put in place when the retailer was acquired by Genesco.

The shoe specialist was acquired by the Tennessee-based retailer in 2011 for £125million. One of the conditions of the sale was the creation of a bonus scheme to reward staff for a continued good performance of the business.

The amount payable was dependent on the business hitting financial targets over four years.

Schuh will divide up the bonus depending on employees' annual salaries and how long they have worked for the company.

It said a sales assistant on an annual salary of £14,000 who has worked at the company for five years will receive a bonus of £3000, while a store manager on a salary of £34,000 who has been at the company for 10 years will receive a £14,000 bonus.

Schuh chief executive Colin Temple said: "We have gained significant market share in recent years with the introduction of our new concept Schuh Kids, we've opened more stores and we've recruited many more people.

"The success of our business is based on the hard work and dedication of our people and there is no better way to thank them than to let them know today we're sharing £25million throughout the business."

Schuh has revealed the bonus to coincide with its latest set of annual financial results.

The footwear retailer's pre-tax profits dipped by 5% to £11.5million for the year ending January 31, as sales rose by 7.6% to £247.5million. During the period Scuh opened 12 new stores.

At the time of the 2011 takeover Schuh, which has 111 shops around the UK, gave staff a £37.3million share of the deal.