After showing signs of stopping the rot in the first quarter of its fiscal year flooring specialist Topps Tiles would have kept the improvement going in the second quarter, but for the timing of the New Year bank holiday.
LFL sales in the six months to the end of March are expected to be down around 4.5% from a year earlier when the final numbers are in, a deterioration from the position at the end of the first quarter when LFL sales were down 4.2% year-on-year.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Due to the timing of the New Year Bank Holiday the second quarter contained one less trading day in 2012 and after adjusting for this the underlying like-for-like performance is a decline of around 4.0%.
In the corresponding six month period a year earlier Topps had seen LFL sales growth of 1.8%, so it is going up against relatively tough comparatives, but the board confessed trading remains tough, albeit broadly in line with its expectations.
That seemed to be enough for the market to mark down the shares to 36.5p at one stage in the morning session, down 3.25p on the previous night's close.
jh
-
Rail fares could spike by 5.8% next year – how to save on train travelJuly’s RPI inflation reading tends to determine rail fare hikes in the following year. We look at how much your train tickets could cost, and how to save money
-
'Governments are launching an assault on the independence of central banks'Opinion Say goodbye to the era of central bank orthodoxy and hello to the new era of central bank dependency, says Jeremy McKeown
