27th Feb 2020 13:21
(Alliance News) - Topps Tiles PLC on Thursday reported yet another drop in sales with the tile retailer warning on its interim and full-year profit.
Shares in the company were 25% lower at 59.00 each in London on Thursday afternoon.
Trading in the first eight weeks of its second quarter was hurt by "continued weak home improvement spending", Topps Tiles said.
Like-for-like sales in the eight weeks to February 22 were down 5.5%.
"With most of the period complete, the group now expects that first half profit will be significantly below the prior year level," Topps Tiles said.
It also cautioned that adjusted pretax profit for the 53 weeks to October 3 will be "materially below" the bottom end of the market forecast range of GBP13.5 million and GBP14.5 million.
Chief Executive Officer Rob Parker 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.
"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."
By Eric Cunha; [email protected]
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