Stockdog,

What do you think of the latest results??

I thought they were ok. Quite positive outlook from the Company!!
The retail sector seems to be improving. Like-for-like sales figures still down from '04 but then again that was going to be very difficult as 2004 was an exceptional year!
One point is that as long as nothing nasty happens in the High street, the next set of results can only look positive compared with 2005...!

The Gross margin is improving which is important + store openings are going ahead as planned so maybe 2006 will be a great year for Topps Tiles!
.....and as was hinted in the press, Topps Tiles might well become a Takeover Target within 12 months.

If that's the case, what's a reasonable Takeout price in your opinion?? 3-3.50?

Thanks for replying.

Oddie

StockMarketWire.com
Topps Tiles said its sales had slipped in the first quarter amid a 'challenging market backdrop'.

Like-for-like sales for the 13 weeks through 29 December fell by 1.4%, the company said.

'Against a challenging market backdrop and a strong period of performance in the prior year we believe the business has performed robustly over the first quarter,' chief executive Matthew Williams said.

'We remain excited by both the opportunity for profitable growth that our expansion into commercial segment will bring and the continued opportunity to further strengthen our market leading position overall.'

Topps Tiles said it continued to make 'good progress' with its plans for commercial. For example, it had recruited an experienced salesforce and was evaluating opportunities to further strengthen the team.

'We are building an encouraging pipeline of future potential projects and are on track to open two new showrooms during the second quarter; bringing the total to four,' it said of the new commercial business.