Topps Tiles confident after profits rise

30th Nov 2010 07:06

Tile and flooring specialist Topps Tiles posted higher profits in the year to October 2 as sales recovered and said it is confident in spite of subdued consumer confidence.Pre-tax profits at Topps, which has 312 stores, climbed to £12.4m from £9.9m as total revenue increased to £182.4m from £178.8m. On a like-for-like basis, sales increased by 1.7%, against a 13.1% fall the previous year. The company is paying a final dividend of 1p, having held back on a payout the previous year."This has been a robust performance from the business during a tough trading period, which demonstrates the effectiveness of our strategy and the strength and resilience of our business model," said chief executive Matthew Williams.He pointed to a reduction in net debt, to £49.1m from £71.2m the previous year, and said that the company was encouraged by current trading. In the first seven weeks of the new financial period sales are up by 2.9% from the same period the previous year, or by 3.2% on a like-for-like basis."We are confident that the business will benefit from our growth strategy and our continued focus on delivering outstanding value to our customers," said Williams.