By Henry Saker-Clark
Topps Tiles has revealed a jump in sales over recent months amid a boost in demand from trade customers.
Shares in the tile and flooring retailer lifted on Wednesday after it highlighted 鈥渟trong trading momentum鈥 over the latest quarter.
The Leicestershire-based company saw group adjusted sales rise 10.1% in the quarter to the end of June, accelerating from 4.1% growth in the first half of its financial year.
As a result, sales for the group, excluding the recently acquired CTD business, were 6.1% higher year-on-year for the three quarters so far.
Topps said it benefited from improvements across all its divisions, with sales from its Topps branded stores up 7.3% for the quarter.
It highlighted that trade sales have been 鈥渟tronger than homeowner sales鈥, but said that there have been signs of improvement from homeowners.
It came as the retail firm indicated it would face pressure from rising costs.
The company said: 鈥淭he cost environment does continue to remain challenging, with around 拢4 million of further cost increases on an annualised basis from April 2025 as a result of the recent changes to national insurance rates and thresholds, together with the increase in national living wage.
鈥淚n addition, the group expects performance-related pay to be higher in the second half, as profits increase.鈥
Adam Vettese, market analyst for EToro, said: 鈥淭his resilient performance is particularly impressive given the still-muted UK home improvement market, and investors have agreed.
鈥淭he macroeconomic backdrop remains mixed, and any sustained improvement in consumer confidence will be key for further upside.
鈥淚f we see more of a recovery in the UK home improvement market, then Topps Tiles could be a well-positioned play.鈥
The company saw shares rise 11.5% in early trading.