Topps Tiles is in the red this afternoon after its latest results and a share placing that raised £15.4m to ready it for more economic turmoil.
Having more than quadrupled this year, shares in the retailer are down 2.5p, or 2.7%, at 92p in late afternoon trading, having dropped as low as 89.1p earlier in the day after reporting a sharp - but smaller-than-expected - fall in adjusted pre-tax profits to £16.3m from £29.5m.
It painted a cautiously optimistic outlook and said it was reassured by current trading, echoing recent survey evidence consumer sentiment is improving.
Chief executive Matthew Williams said:
"The retail environment continues to be challenging and the outlook for consumer confidence remains uncertain. Against this context we are pleased to have delivered a performance that is in line with both management and market expectations and demonstrates the resilience of the business model with the continuing generation of both profit and free cashflow.
"Furthermore, our current trading performance indicates that signs of stability are returning. We have the market leading position in our sector and an outstanding customer service ethic which will continue to serve us well particularly as consumer confidence returns."
Topps provided more detail on what it meant by "stability" by saying: "The board monitors sales per store on a 52 week rolling average basis and this metric has been at a stable level since the end of July."
It provided further reassurance with news that in the first 7 weeks of its new financial period like-for-like sales increased by 0.5% and in Topps' primary UK market like-for-like sales rose 2.2%.
