Topps Tiles Sees Annual Profit Fall

London, England, Nov. 29, 2011 -- Britain's largest tile retailer Topps Tiles reported an underlying pretax profit of $21.6 million in the year to Oct. 1.

That compares to a profit of $25.4 million in the 2009-10 year.

Total revenue fell 4% to $274 million, although gross margin did edge up 0.9 percentage points to 59.6%, thanks to improved sourcing of products.

Sales at stores open over a year fell 2%, after a 9.5% slump in its fourth quarter, and were down 6.9% in the first seven weeks of the new financial year.

Topps said it is trying to attract more affluent customers.