The boss of Topps Tiles has said he is retiring after 18 years at the retailer, as the company said it has returned to sales growth. Rob Parker announced he is leaving the business less than two months after its biggest investor called for a leadership review.
Mr Parker is likely remain in post until late this year, after a successor has been found, the company said. It comes after top investor MS Galleon, which owns a 30% stake in Topps Tiles, called for a leadership review in November. The investment firm pointed to slumping sales at the time and claimed management had made a raft of “strategic missteps”.
But Topps’ trading update on Wednesday revealed that it had returned to growth, as sales during the three months to December 28 rose 4.6% compared with the same period last year. Topps is the biggest tile retailer in the UK and employs thousands of people across its 300 stores.
Founded in Leicester in 1963, it has since grown to dominate the market for tiles in the UK. It also owns Pro Tiler, a tiling supplies business. The sales growth was driven by a sharp increase of 12.9% during the shorter Christmas period, covering the five weeks from Black Friday to Boxing Day.
Mr Parker said the sales growth was partly down to Topps’ attempts to grow its online operation. The lack of online sales was one reason for MS Galleon’s complaint in November – it wrote that Topps is “predominantly a bricks and mortar business with a poorly optimised store portfolio”.
