Investors appear to be undeterred by weaker-than-expected full-year figures from Topps Tiles (LON:TPT), with shares rising over 7 percent in morning trading on Tuesday.
The group revealed sales of £211.8 million in 2017, a fall from the £215 million figure recorded last year. Like-for-like sales also declined by 2.9 percent, with the gross margin falling to 61.1 percent. The company cited the pressure of weaker sterling as the main reason for the fall, but said it was slightly offset by underlying sourcing gains and a “focus on a differentiated product offer”.
Adjusted profit before tax also fell by 15.5 percent to £18.6 million, but chief executive Matthew Williams said trading had picked up in the last eight weeks of the year.
“Trading in the first eight weeks of the new financial year has improved, with like-for-like sales increasing by 3.2 per cent.
“We are confident that the combination of the significant further potential in our strategy of ‘Out-specialising the Specialists’ with our accelerated plan to grow in the commercial tile market will underpin our future success”, Williams concluded.
Despite the figures the company’s share price rose on Tuesday morning, and is currently trading up 7 percent at 65.00 (1105GMT).
