Flooring specialist Topps Tiles has announced a £2.2m increase in revenue, delivering a pre-tax profit of £12.5m for the 52 weeks ending October 1.
It's a remarkable turnaround for the tiling retailer, which suffered a 4.7% slip in like-for-likes during the first half of the year. The 3.5% LfL increase during the last 26 weeks resulted in an overall balance of -0.7%. Topps reported, however, that in the first seven weeks of its new financial year like-for-likes are already up 1%. It's a far cry from the retailer's dark days of plunging like-for-likes and profit warning last summer.

Group sales increased to £177.7m from £175.5m last year, and operating profit was up from £14m to £15.5m. Five new stores opened during the year, including 13 new locations and 10 Tile Clearing House stores converted to the Topps format. The group is now trading from 324 stores.

Topps Tiles chief executive Matthew Williams said the retailer's progress was "encouraging" following a "challenging start to our financial year."

He added: "We have continued to move forward as a business and strengthen our market leading position - evolving our customer offer, delivering world class customer service, expanding our store estate, investing in infrastructure, and reducing net debt."

"Looking ahead, we recognise that economic conditions are likely to remain uncertain throughout 2013. However I believe, that we are operating in an environment where customers value Topps' unique blend of outstanding product range, affordability, industry leading customer service and locational convenience. These key differentiators provide us with a platform to achieve both further growth and market share gains as we consolidate our position as the UK's number one tile retailer."