Topps Tiles sinks 13pc as it warns of sales go-slow
Flooring company
Topps Tiles has blamed that pesky ‘Beast from the East’ for a sharp decrease in sales.
in a trading update, Topps said that the cold snap of February and March, as well as an early Easter, led to a 2.2pc drop for the three months to the end of March.
The firm, which sells 530m square feet of tiles a year – enough to cover more than 9,300 football pitches – also said there had been a slowdown in the market.
But despite this, Topps’ revenue was up 0.6pc in the six months to March 31.
Matthew Williams, chief executive of Topps, said: ‘After a strong start to the year, market conditions have become more challenging over the second quarter.
‘ While the business has responded well with a performance ahead of the overall tile market, we are retaining a cautious view of market conditions for the remainder of the year.’ The warning floored Topps’ shares, which plunged 13.3pc, or 10.7p, to 69.8p.
The FTSE 100 batted away worries over the escalating trade war between the United States and China, edging up 0.05pc, or 3.55 points, to 7034.01p.
However, FTSE 100-listed miners took a battering as the price of copper, platinum and silver fell.
Anglo American was the biggest casualty of the mining big boys, with its shares sliding 3.2pc, or 52p, to 1587.8p.
it was followed by Rio Tinto, whose shares fell 2.6pc, or 92.5p, to 3538p, Antofagasta (down 2.5pc, or 23.2p, at 901.8p) and BHP
Billiton (which dipped just under 2.5pc, or 34.6p, at 1373.8p). Elsewhere, supermarket chain Morrison topped the big caps after data confirmed it grew faster than ‘Big Four’ rivals Sainsbury’s and Asda in the 12 weeks to March 25.
its sales grew 2.4pc over the period, the same as rival Tesco, giving it a 10.5pc share of the UK supermarket sector.
Morrison shares were up 2.9pc, or 6.1p, at 218.4p, although Tesco’s slipped back 1.3pc, or 2.7p, to 200.8p. on the FTSE 250, which ended yesterday down by 0.69pc, or 133.79 points, at 19,264.22, Credit Suisse slashed the target price of the satellite company
Inmarsat from 810p to 610p, due to a more ‘ cautious’ outlook for government spending.
However, the firm kept its ‘outperform’ rating. inmarsat’s shares dipped 2.9pc, or 9.9p, to 336.4p.
Elsewhere in the mid-caps, the shares of FTSE 250-listed airliner
Wizz Air were boosted by a leap in passenger numbers in March.
The low-cost airline, which operates out of central and eastern Europe, flew nearly 2.5m passengers in March, which was a 25.2pc increase compared to the same month last year.
last month the carrier added ten new routes and five new planes, taking its fleet up to 93.
Wizz Air’s shares were up as much as 2.6pc in mid-day trading, although they slipped back to end the day up 0.6pc, or 20p, to 3187p.
Shares in the cyber security company Shearwater Group boomed after it bought the Welsh data loss protection specialists geolang for £1.7m.
David Williams, the chairman of Aim-listed Shearwater, said: ‘For us geolang represents another example of a great British technology business with significant potential to scale.’
Shearwater’s shares jumped 12.3pc, or 0.32p, to 2.98p.
The owner of Total Film and PC gamer magazines has bought US publisher newbay Media in a deal worth up to £13.7m.
newbay publishes Music Week and other trade titles in the UK.
Shares in buyer Future slumped 2.9pc, or 11p, to 374p.