Topps Tiles’ slowdown ends with 7pc share rise

Topps Tiles rallied from its fouryear low after reporting a return to underlying sales growth.

The tile retailer, which has been dragged down by a fall in consumer confidence and changes to stamp duty, said sales had picked up in the eight weeks since the end of its financial year in September – increasing 3.2pc compared to a 0.3pc fall the year before.

The news encouraged investors and helped soften the blow of its weak full-year results. Topps Tiles reported a 2.9pc fall in same-store sales in the year to the end of September, while profits dived 15pc to £17m. Sales across the group slumped 1.5pc to £211.8m.

Matthew Williams, chief executive, said: ‘The business responded well to the more challenging trading conditions we experienced in 2017. While we are retaining our prudent view of market conditions for the year ahead, we are encouraged by this return to like-for-like sales growth.’ Shares rose 7pc, or 4.25p, to 65p.

Shares in Convatec dropped 2.5pc, or 4.8p, to 190p as investors braced themselves for its exit from the FTSE 100.

The medical products firm is set to exit the blue-chip index, alongside theme park operator Merlin and engineer Babcock.

Takeaway company Just Eat, packaging firm DS Smith and products producer Halma are set to be promoted in the final FTSE reshuffle of 2017 today.

The FTSE 100 finished up 1pc or 76.75 points to 7,460.65 while the FTSE 250 finished up 0.7pc or 144.93 points to 20,026.19 points.

Meat producer Cranswick soared after beefing up its halfyear sales and profits.

The business said sales jumped 23pc to £714.6m in the six months to the end of September – up from £580.8m the year before. Profits increased 9.9pc to £44.5m. It also revealed plans to invest in a £54m poultry factory in Suffolk, sending shares up 8.6pc, or 259p, to 3276p.

News that all of Britain’s major banks had passed the Bank of England’s stress tests did little to rock shares. RBs nudged up 1.4pc, or 3.6p, to 271.2p while Barclays and Lloyds finished down 0.1pc and 1pc respectively.

Cyber-security firm sophos slumped 6pc, or 39p, to 607p as its largest shareholder, Apax Global Alpha, sold down almost half of its stake. The private equity firm, which invested in Sophos five years before its IPO in 2015, had owned around 60pc of the company.

It announced its intention to sell 51m shares, together with its subsidiary Pentagon Lock, after markets closed on Monday.

Analysts at Jefferies upgraded insulation and roofing supplier SIG to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’. The move was enough to send shares soaring 4.8pc, or 7.9p, to 172.4p.

Rating upgrades from UBS and Investec also helped move healthcare provider Mediclinic out of the FTSE 100 drop zone. UBS said the market had over-reacted to the firm’s Swiss and UAE margins, and the half year could bring an earnings surprise, while Investec said Mediclinic is ‘through the worst’ and it expects to see a ‘significant improvement in operational performance across all platforms’.

Mediclinic’s share price has fallen by about 44pc since it listed on the London Stock Exchange in February 2016 and it has underperformed its peer group in all the respective markets.

Its bid to buy Spire Healthcare was rebuffed last week and the firm had been tipped to exit the blue-chip index. UBS’s upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’ and Investec’s upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ helped save the firm. Shares jumped 2.4pc, or 12.5p, to 539p.

Dixons Carphone slumped 2.1pc, or 3.3p, to 154p after analysts from Stifel removed their ‘buy’ rating and cut full-year profit forecasts by 27pc – citing uncertain demand for smartphones.