The store group, which sells wood flooring as well as tiles, reported that comparable sales were down 4.4 per cent in the first 13 weeks of its financial year, compared with a 4.7 per cent slide in the first seven weeks.
Chairman and founder Barry Bester said: 'We now expect to see some signs of improvement in like-for-like sales as the very high comparatives we experienced throughout the first quarter of the last financial period become less challenging.'
Total sales over the 13 weeks advanced by 1 per cent and gross margins are improving.
Panmure Gordon analyst Christian Koefoed-Nielsen was optimistic about the outlook. He said: 'Topps is the dominant player in a market that offers attractive medium-term growth prospects. Topps' combination of range, service and, increasingly, convenience as it opens more stores is unmatched by competitors.'
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