Topps Tiles interim profit rises as store rebrand bears fruit

Topps Tiles posted a rise in first-half profit, with revenue up as the rebrand and upgrade of its store bears fruit.

For the 26 weeks ended 2 April, adjusted pre-tax profit increased to £10.3m from £9.1m, on revenue of £108m, up from £104m in the same period last year.

Like-for-like revenue was up 4.7% year-on-year, which was a slowdown compared to the 5.3%.increase in 2015.

Meanwhile, the company declared an interim dividend of 1p per share, up from 0.75p.

Topps Tiles said it has made a strong start to the second half of the year, with like-for-like sales over the seven weeks to 21 May up 8.4% compared with a 6.3% rise in the same period a year ago.

Chief executive Matthew Williams said: “Topps has delivered a robust first half performance as our successful strategy of ‘out-specialising the specialists’ continues to generate profitable sales growth.”

Williams said the company’s initiatives to upgrade and rebrand its stores led more customers to reappraise the Topps brand and shop with it for the first time.

“Further improvements are in development and will be rolled-out in the remainder of the year and beyond.”

Cantor Fitzgerald lifted its rating on the stock to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ following the results, which it said were marginally ahead of its forecasts. It had pencilled in pre-tax profit of £10m.

The brokerage added that the stock is undervalued and has been oversold.

At 0915 BST, Topps Tiles shares were up 3.4% to 135.75p.