Topps Tiles underlying pre-tax profit is expected to fall in the 26 weeks to March 30 “against a background of weaker than expected demand”.

The UK’s largest tiles specialist expects to generate underlying pre-tax profit in the region of £4.3m – down from £5.6m in the comparative period last year – which is within the range of market expectations.

Like-for-likes are expected to be flat, while Topps Tiles forecasts a sales rise of 0.9% to £87.4m.

Topps Tiles said it had started a “number of cost reduction initiatives” during the half.

The retailer trades from 320 stores and said it “continues to make significant investments across the business as part of the strategy to grow market share”.