Flooring and tile chain Topps Tiles is to accelerate its store closures with close to 10% of its stores being offloaded to cut costs.
23 of its 311 branches (7.4%) will close over the next few months. They were described as ‘under-performing’ and follow the closure of 11 store in the past half-year.
‘In light of the softer home improvements and DIY market, and to offset government and macro-driven cost inflation, the group has begun rolling out a series of self-help measures to continue driving sustainable profit growth in the medium term. These include cost-saving interventions to increase efficiencies at head office and across the store portfolio,’ it says.
‘The group expects this will reduce overall Topps Tiles revenue but improve profitability through sales transference and cost reduction. Savings are expected to be weighted toward the second half of the year and will underpin in-year profit as well as provide sustainable profit improvement.
‘Our digital and data strategy has advanced, with online revenue (including CTD) rising to 21%, an increase of 2ppts versus full year 2025 and 3.3ppts versus first half last year. The first half also saw positive results from the new customer engagement platform, the launch of live stock visibility in Topps Tiles and a new transactional website for CTD. The trade app remains on track to launch in April 2026 and the system modernisation rollout, including new tills and an ERP upgrade, began in March.’
‘Topps continues to outperform a softer market. In light of subdued consumer sentiment and geopolitical uncertainty as well as the cumulative impact of cost inflation, the management team is implementing a targeted programme of self-help measures weighted towards the second half. These actions are designed to support year on year profit growth and provide a stronger financial platform for 2027 and beyond,’ says Alex Jensen, Topps Tiles chief executive.
