Topps Tiles warns on profits as sales slide

Topps Tiles, which had previously reported that political and economic uncertainty in the run-up to December’s general election had impacted trading, said challenging conditions had persisted and retail like for likes in the eight weeks to February 22 slid 5.5%.

It reported: “With most of the period complete, the group now expects that first-half profit will be significantly below the prior-year level.”

As a result, full-year performance is expected to be “materially below the bottom end of the current range of market expectations”, which was for adjusted profit before tax of £13.5m to £14.5m.

Topps Tiles chief executive Rob Parker said: “Trading conditions in our second quarter have remained challenging, reflecting continued weakness in home improvement spending. Against this backdrop we are taking appropriate action to ensure we remain competitive, to reduce costs and to strengthen cash flows.

“While UK housing market indicators have shown an encouraging improvement in the period since the general election, these traditionally have a lagged impact on our trading and we would not expect to see any benefit from these until later into the second half - our performance during this period will be key to the outcome for the year as a whole.

“We remain confident that our market-leading retail offer and recently established commercial operations give us a strong platform from which to deliver sustainable growth over the medium and long term.”

Topps Tiles will post interim results in May.