Topps Tiles share price slides after company warns on low consumer confidence
Topps Tiles said this morning that it had been hit by the fall in consumer confidence following the Brexit vote.
After the company announced a slowdown in like-for-like sales growth to 1.4 per cent its share price slid more than six per cent.
The sales dip was in part to due to a strategic change to move out of the sale of low-margin wood flooring, which reduced like-for-like sales by 1.5 per cent.
But the chief executive Matthew Williams also said market conditions had "weakened" during the final quarter due to a fall in consumer confidence.
Read more: Consumer confidence hits pre-referendum levels – how long can it last?
In July, GfK's widely followed indicator of consumer confidence fell to minus 12, the sharpest monthly fall since March 1990. The index recently rose back to its pre-referendum level of minus one.
Liberum analysts had downgraded Topps Tiles and other UK retailers, due to the drop in consumer confidence. Today they said Topps Tiles' update was in line with their expectations for the year, and said the company "remains well placed to continue to gain market share."
Pre-tax profits are in line with market estimates for the year, Topps Tiles said.