Topps Tiles warns on profit
Topps Tiles has warned that its first half pre-tax profit will be significantly below what was achieved in the same period in the previous year.
In a trading update, the retailer also said that second quarter sales decreased by 5.5% in the eight weeks to 22 February.
Rob Parker, Topps Tiles chief executive, 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.“
In early January, Topps reported that like-for-like sales had fallen by 5.4% in its first quarter.
The retailer now expects pre-tax profit for the 53 weeks ended 3 October to be materially below the bottom end of the current range of market expectations.
Parker added: “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.”
