Cheshire, England, January 12--The man who helped found Topps Tiles in 1984 is stepping down as co-chairman and a director at the age of 60 to devote more time to his charitable trust and other personal business interests, as reported in the Birmingham Post & Mail.
A spokeswoman said Stuart Williams intends to keep his 10.9 per cent shareholding when he leaves the board at the end of March, while becoming president of the fast-growing chain of tiling and wood flooring shops.
Barry Bester, who founded Topps with Mr. Williams, will remain executive chairman after Mr. Williams leaves.
Yesterday the shares fell 7 1/2p to 251 1/2p after Mr. Bester warned the annual meeting that keeping up the present high level of growth in likefor-like sales could prove "challenging."
This was because this year's results would stand against very strong growth last year.
In the first 14 weeks of the present year sales rose 15 per cent on a like-for-like basis.
Topps said the underlying market for tiles, buoyed by home improvement TV shows, was set to grow by 26 per cent over the next four years.
The company has 227 stores and plans another 17 openings by September as it progresses towards its target of 350 stores.
"So far we have opened seven stores (in the 2004/05 year) and have a strong pipeline of sites for the remainder of the financial period," Mr. Bester said.
"With the business enjoying a leading position in the UK we remain confident of delivering another period of growth and progress."
Previously, chief executive Nick Ounstead has said Britons spend relatively less on tiles than in other northern European countries, whose residents typically buy three to four times more.
