Topps Tiles has revealed slower growth at the start of its financial year as it also snapped up the brand of collapsed rival Fired Earth.
Shares in the company dipped in early trading on Tuesday despite a return to profit.
The Leicestershire-based tile retailer revealed that group sales, excluding the CTD brand it bought last year, were up 3.3% over the nine weeks since the end of September, with like-for-like sales of 2% across Topps.
However, it marked a slowdown after Topps reported like-for-like growth of 5.3% in the year to September 27, compared with a year earlier.
The group said recent sales “moderated due to weaker consumer confidence”.
It comes after a recent slowdown in consumer spending ahead of the autumn Budget, which then introduced significant tax increases.
Incoming chief executive Alex Jensen nevertheless hailed a “very encouraging set of results” for the business.
On Tuesday, Topps also revealed that it has bought the Fired Earth brand, IP, website and around £2.5 million worth of stock.
It comes after the Oxfordshire-based competitor tumbled into administration in October, resulting in the closure of its 20 UK showrooms and 133 job cuts.
Topps said it paid around £3 million to snap up the brand and assets in a rescue deal.
The deal is the latest acquisition by the business after it bought CTD Tiles out of administration last year.
It snapped up its intellectual property, CTD’s Architectural & Designer (A&D) and Housebuilder business, selected stock and a licence to occupy 30 CTD stores for £9 million.
Topps said it will have 22 remaining CTD stores after an investigation by the UK competition watchdog required Topps to sell off a number of stores.
Bosses said the CTD business was loss-making last year amid costs linked to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation, but said it is on track to deliver a profit in the new financial year.
Topps reported a statutory pre-tax profit of £8.3 million in the year to September, jumping from a £16.2 million pre-tax loss a year earlier.
