Topps tough enough to defy the downturn

THE boss of Topps Tiles today hailed a “credible” performance in tough trading conditions and said its resilient business model will help it weather the storm.

Nevertheless, the Cheadle Hulme-based group axed its final dividend payment as it revealed a sharp fall in pre-tax profits for the 52 weeks to September 27, down to £27.7m from £37.8m last time. Revenue nudged up 0.1% to £201.8m.

The UK’s biggest tile and wood flooring group, which operates more than 320 stores in the UK and around 20 in Holland, said the decision to withdraw a dividend payment to shareholders was to help reduce its debt pile which stands at £92m.

The group said it had been a challenging 12 months in a tough trading environment, and in the first seven weeks of the new financial year, like-for-like sales are down by 18.3%.

However chief executive Matt Williams said a number of measures  to ensure the group is in good condition to cope with the current downturn have been introduced , including tightening its cost base, reviewing growth plans and extending its banking facilities.

Mr Williams added: “This is a credible performance when taking into account that the retail trading environment has become increasingly challenging during the year and our results have been affected accordingly.

“We intend to capitalise on our market leading position – we have a resilient business model, and an outstanding customer service ethic which will enable us to progress through this downturn, and believe that we will benefit significantly when consumer confidence returns.”