Topps Tiles posts decline in full year sales and profit
Topps Tiles has posted a decline in full-year sales and profit after struggling against a challenging market.
In the year to 30 September, adjusted pre-tax profit fell by 15.5% to £18.6 million while sales dropped to £211.8 million from £215 million in the previous year. On a like-for-like basis sales were down 2.9%.
Matthew Williams, chief executive of Topps Tiles, said: “The business responded well to the more challenging trading conditions we experienced in 2017, maintaining tight control of costs to help offset the reduction in gross margin and continuing to make good progress with its strategic initiatives.”
During the period, Topps Tiles conducted its annual refresh of strategy and now regards the commercial tile market as being key to its future growth plans.
The company said: “We have identified that there are areas of the commercial market that are economically attractive and where we consider that some of our core strengths can be further leveraged, providing a potential source of profitable growth for the business.”
Topps Tiles said it has identified several routes of entry into the commercial market and during the period it completed the acquisition of Parkside Ceramics for £1.1 million in cash. Parkside Ceramics specialises in the supply of tiles into the commercial segment and also distributes to independent kitchen and bathroom retailers.
Looking ahead, the company said the new financial year has started well.
Williams added: “Trading in the first eight weeks of the new financial year has improved, with like-for-like sales increasing by 3.2%. While we are retaining our prudent view of market conditions for the year ahead, we are encouraged by this return to like-for-like sales growth.
“We are confident that the combination of the significant further potential in our strategy of “Out-specialising the Specialists” with our accelerated plan to grow in the commercial tile market will underpin our future success.”
