In a trading update issued today, the group expects like-for-like sales for the 26-week period to be down 4.2 per cent. Overall turnover is expected to be£88.5 million, compared with£87.5 million for the same period last year.
The retailer said that it had been 'a consistently tough trading environment', but was encouraged by current trading, with like-for-like sales up 0.9 per cent for the past five weeks. It expects to report further improvement in the gross margin since the end of the last financial period.
The update shows the results are likely to be better than expected. Seymour Pierce analyst Richard Ratner said: 'We would expect for H2 like-for-like sales to remain in the positive territory and thus maintain our estimate at£39.5 million for the year. However, it is possible that both forecasts prove to be conservative.'
It was also announced that chief operating officer Matthew Williams has been appointed to the board as an executive director.
Topps Tiles will announce its interim results on May 23.
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