Topps Tiles to close 23 stores over rising costs

Retailer Topps Tiles has announced it will close 23 stores in the face of a tougher home improvement market and rising costs.

The tile chain, based in Enderby, Leicestershire, said closing 7% of its 319-strong estate would help cut costs as part of "significant self-help measures".

Topps Tiles said eight of the "under-performing" stores had already closed, with the remainder to shut over the next six months.

The group - which employs about 1,850 workers - has not yet said which stores would close nor detail the impact of the closures on its workforce, but added it would offer affected staff jobs within the business where possible.

Chief executive Alex Jensen said the decision was "designed to support year-on-year profit growth and provide a stronger financial platform for 2027 and beyond".

"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," he said.

The group said sales fell 0.1% to £142.7m in the six months to 28 March, though it said revenues were impacted by a "lengthy" competition process and disposal programme following its purchase of competitor CTD Tiles in 2024.

Topps saw its deal to buy CTD out of administration probed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which required it to sell off a number of CTD stores to appease concerns over competition.

The firm was left with 22 CTD stores, down from an initial 31.

In December, it also bought the brand of collapsed rival Fired Earth in a £3m rescue deal, after the Oxfordshire-based competitor went into administration in October.

The firm reported a statutory pre-tax profit of £8.3m in the year to September, swinging from a £16.2m pre-tax loss a year earlier.