Topps Tiles faces £4m hike to wage bill

Topps Tiles has warned the external cost environment “remains challenging” as it faces a £4m hike to its wage bill from changes to employers’ National Insurance contributions and National Living Wage this month.

It comes as the tile specialist saw sales improve during the first half of the year as it continues to make progress under its Mission 365 strategy.

Group sales rose 4% to £127.7m during the six minths to 29 March, with underlying revenues up 4.4% in the second quarter and 3.3% in the first.

The retailer said that trading was slower in January but volumes “began to build progressively thereafter, with this improving trend culminating in a strong performance in March”.

It reported that underlying like-for-likes within the Topps Tiles brand were up 3.7% year-on-year in the second quarter and 3% in the first half.

Trade sales jumped 12% in the half, which it attributed to progress of its digital initiatives that helped boost the number of active traders at the end of the period 11% to 146,000.

Digital sales increased 15% during the half and online trade traffic was up four-fold.

Topps Tiles said the brand continued to make good progress with the development of its new customer engagement platform and trade app, which will launch in 2025 and 2026 respectively.

The group said it had also received a “high degree of interest” and had made “good progress” in identifying potential candidates to succeed its chief executive Rob Parker, who announced his resignation in January.

Parker added: “Following our return to sales growth in the early weeks of the year, we are pleased to see this trend accelerate in the second quarter, driven by some initial signs of success from our new strategic initiatives, including an improved trader digital experience and further category extensions.

“Whilst macroeconomic indicators remain mixed, we remain focused on the delivery of our strategy which we are confident will lead to the achievement of our Mission 365 goal over the medium term.”

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