The boss of Topps Tiles said a slowdown in sales to commercial customers such as architects, designers and contractors had hit trading – but said sales to the public remained solid.
Rob Parker said the national tile retailer faced a tough trading environment in the face of the pandemic, but said he was confident things would improve.
New figures show sales over the last three months were up 16.5 per cent compared to the same time last year.
As a result the Leicestershire-based business hopes to make a “modest” level of adjusted pre-tax profit for the year.
It said overall sales from its 342 stores were down 80 per cent at the height of lockdown in April, improving to 20 per cent down in June.
But they were up more than 10 per cent in each of the following three months.
Annual sales are expected to be around £192 million for the year, compared to £219 million in 2019.
Mr Parker said: “Our people remain at the heart of our business and I would like to thank all of our colleagues for their unwavering support through the last six months.
Most Read
“Our retail business has performed strongly over the final quarter and our order bay provides an encouraging view of the early weeks of the new financial year.
“While the commercial market is rebuilding more slowly, impacting on the recovery trajectory of our commercial business, it remains a key part of our longer term growth strategy.
“I remain very positive about the longer term outlook for the group but also recognise that the continuing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic may lead to more difficult trading conditions over the short to medium term.
“As market leader, and with our strong balance sheet, the business is well positioned to navigate these conditions and to meet future challenges.”
In a trading update the business said it had performed “robustly” over the last three months – the final quarter of its financial year – driven by continued strong demand from DIY customers and an accelerating recovery in trade activity which had increased steadily in recent weeks.
All Topps Tiles stores are open and operating with social distancing and hygiene measures in place and the group said it stopped using the furlough scheme in August.
It said: “Our website continues to play an important role, with sales remaining above the prior year level throughout the final quarter and customers doing more of their research online before visiting a store.
Don’t miss
“Customers are also returning to pre-Covid-19 behaviours with a visit to store being at the heart of the majority of customer journeys.
“Activity across the Commercial sector has been rebuilding more slowly following the period of Covid-19 related disruption but we are starting to see increased levels of engagement by architects, designers and contractors on new specification projects, and some existing clients are now re-commencing fit-out activity.
“Despite this significant slowdown in activity we anticipate full year revenue of £7.5 million [in commercial sales], which is 53 per cent above the prior year level, and a small reduction in the full year trading loss compared to the prior year.”