Tile specialist making ‘significant’ progress despite challenging conditions
The CEO of Leicester-based Topps Tiles says the firm is making “significant strategic progress” despite tough market conditions and a UK-wide dip in consumer confidence.
The company’s revenue for the 52 week period ending 28 September 2019 is expected to be in the region of £214 million – almost the same as the previous year’s figure – but whilst its trading over the fourth quarter has reflected a challenging economic backdrop, key changes to the firm’s retail and commercial strategies have kept it on a relatively even keel.
Like-for-like sales at Topps decreased by 1.9 per cent in Q4 and three of its stores closed – a dip the firm has attributed to the current climate of economic uncertainty and a corresponding decline in consumer confidence.
However, despite these setbacks, Topps’ entry into the commercial tile market, the “significant momentum” established by its Parkside brand and the opening of a new design studio have all contributed to a mood of cautious optimism at the Enderby firm.
The company has also launched a new web site in order to integrate its online offer with its stores.
CEO Matthew Williams said: “Despite continued tough market conditions it has been a year of significant strategic progress for the Topps Group. In Retail, the recent launch of our new, industry-leading website brings new levels of inspiration to our customers and further integrates our digital and in-store offer. In Commercial, our investments in building the salesforce, opening new design studios and improving its digital capabilities have enabled Parkside to establish significant momentum in its second year within the Group.
“Our sales growth across the Group for the year as a whole compares favourably with the overall tile market. However, political uncertainty continued to weigh on consumer confidence in the final quarter and we expect this to remain a feature until there is greater clarity. Longer term, we are confident that our growth strategy will continue to deliver market outperformance.”
