22nd May 2018 11:45
LONDON (Alliance News) - Topps Tiles PLC on Tuesday said its profit fell by third in the first half of 2018 financial year despite a moderate rise in revenue.
The retailer said pretax profit in the six months ended March decreased 33% to GBP6.4 million from GBP9.5 million the year before.
This was after distribution costs grew to GBP41.9 million from GBP39.7 million the prior year and administrative expenses increased to GBP8.2 million from GBP6.8 million.
Revenue, however, rose 3.7% to GBP110.5 million from GBP106.6 million. Like-for-like revenue came in 0.6% higher.
During the period, the company sold one freehold property for GBP1.0 million and now owns eight freehold or long leasehold sites.
Topps Tiles maintained its interim dividend at 1.1 pence.
"After a strong start to the year, market conditions became more challenging over the second quarter, when our like-for-like sales performance was also impacted by the adverse weather and the earlier timing of Easter," said Chief Executive Matthew Williams.
"Trading in the first seven weeks of the second half has improved on the second quarter, with like-for-like sales down by 0.2%," Williams continued. "While we are retaining a cautious view of market conditions for the remainder of the year, we remain confident in our ability to continue to extend our market leading position."
Shares in Topps Tiles were up 4.4% at 72.00 pence each on Tuesday.
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