Britain鈥檚 biggest tile retailer has made record sales for the third year in a row as it continues to bounce back from the pandemic.
Topps Tiles achieved sales of 拢263 million in the year to the end of September 鈥 some 拢40 million up on 2019 which was the last full financial year before Covid-19 hit. Overall sales were up 6.4 per cent year-on-year, which management said represented a 鈥渟ignificant outperformance鈥 of the rest of the 海角视频 tiling market.
The business is based on the outskirts of Leicester and has 303 Topps Tiles stores, a commercial showroom in London and eight online shops. Since launching in 1963 it has grown to become the 海角视频's biggest specialist supplier of tiles and tiling products, to homeowners, trade customers, architects, designers and contractors. Brands under its umbrella include Pro Tiler, Tile Warehouse and Parkside.
The group said it was confident that 鈥 once the latest data was out 鈥 it will have beaten the 19 per cent market share it reported last year, as it heads towards an early delivery of its goal of making '1 in 5鈥 of all 海角视频 tile sales by 2025.
However, in a trading update, the business said sales growth had slowed in the last three months due to inflation, higher interest rates and the slowing housing market which had affected how much people and companies were putting into property repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI).
Despite that, profitability for the full year was expected to be in line with market expectations, as was the company鈥檚 cash flow and balance sheet.
Chief executive Rob Parker said: 鈥淎s we celebrate our 60th anniversary, we are delighted to have delivered a third consecutive year of record sales in Topps Group, having increased our sales by over 拢40 million since the pre-pandemic period, reflecting the significant development and diversification of the group over that time.
鈥淚t was also a year of strong strategic progress, in which Topps Tiles continued to take significant market share, Parkside was set-up for profitable growth and Pro Tiler's performance went from strength to strength.
鈥淎s a result of this progress, we anticipate delivering our goal of '1 in 5 by 2025' significantly ahead of schedule.
鈥淒espite a slowing RMI market, we are confident that our core strengths of leading brands, world class customer service, specialist expertise and a strong balance sheet will enable us to grow sales, profitability and cash generation in the years ahead, delivering value for all stakeholders.鈥
