Topps Tiles Regulatory News (TPT)

4 Apr 2006 07:01

Topps Tiles PLC04 April 2006 Topps Tiles Plc Interim Trading Update and Board Appointment Topps Tiles Plc (the "Company"), the UK's largest ceramic tile and wood flooringspecialist, announces a trading update, for the 26 weeks ended 1 April 2006. Overall turnover is expected to be in the region of £88.5 million (2005: £87.5million), with like-for-like sales for the period expected to be 4.2% below thesame period last year. However, the last 5 weeks of trading have beenencouraging with like-for-like sales up 0.9%, in a consistently tough tradingenvironment. The Group has a new store opening target of a net 24 new stores for the fullfinancial period with 14 opened in the 26 weeks to 1 April 2006. The Board expects profit before tax, for the 26 week period, to be in the regionof £19.50 million (2005: £20.03) plus exceptional property profits of circa£250k (2005: £1.72 million) to give Profit Before Tax in the region of £19.75million (2005: £21.75 million) and expects to report further improvement ingross margin since the last financial period end. The Board will announce interim results for the 26 week period to 1 April 2006on Tuesday 23 May 2006. Additionally, the Company is pleased to announce that Matthew Thomas MathiesonWilliams, Chief Operating Officer (aged 32), has been appointed to the Board asan Executive Director (having been Chief Operating Officer at OperationalDirector level since 1 December 2004). The appointment is effective from 1 April2006. There is no further information which falls to be disclosed pursuant toListing Rule 9.6.13. Enquiries: Sarah Landgrebe/Alex Walton Bell Pottinger Corporate & Financial 020 7861 3232 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange