Key resources
World-class customer service is a core strength and as a result our team of people is one of our most valued assets. We aim to provide our customers with high quality advice and inspiration, as well as technical knowledge and a strong service ethic, and to do this successfully we need highly engaged specialist teams around the Group that can support our customers and clients.
Our various brands utilise technology in different ways. Within Topps Tiles, our award-winning website is regularly updated to add more value to customers, and both the homeowner and trade websites have been relaunched within the last year to add new functionality and improve the user experience. Topps Tiles and Parkside are supported with modern Customer Relationship Management tools to enable direct communication with customers. Pro Tiler Tools, Tile Warehouse and Fired Earth are online businesses, supported by the latest digital platforms. Centrally, we are investing in updating some of our primary central systems to support the continued growth of the Group.
The Topps Tiles brand was founded in 1963 and, with its rich history, has strong brand recognition across the UK.CTD has over 50 years of experience in the industry and is well-known by tilers, general builders and homeowners. The Parkside brand has significant heritage in the commercial sector. Pro Tiler Tools was founded in 2008 by a family of tilers and is extremely well regarded within the trader community, Tile Warehouse is a brand launched as we continue to grow the business and Fired Earth is a premium interiors brand with tiles at its core with over 40 years experience. There are relatively few consumerfacing product brands in tiles so the brand of the retailer or distributor is very important for customers and clients and our brands are some of our most important assets.
For Topps Tiles and CTD, stores remain our primary channel to market and almost all of our customers will visit a store at some point during their purchase. We operate from 297 Topps Tiles stores and 22 CTD stores across the UK with an average footprint of 6,000 sq ft, however, the inherent flexibility in our operating model enables us to trade successfully from 3,000 sq ft up to 10,000 sq ft. Our store portfolio operates predominantly on a leased basis with an average unexpired lease term of approximately two and a half years, giving us flexibility to manage the portfolio.
We source our products directly from manufacturers on a global basis, with a focus on building long-term strategic relationships with our manufacturing partners, while allowing flexibility including the ability to resource products from around the world as we react to any changes in local conditions. Our buying scale allow us to develop product ranges with leading tile manufacturers that are genuinely innovative and to source them on an exclusive basis.
Our investment in our supply chain includes our 290,000 sq ft of central warehousing in our Leicester and Northampton distribution centres, our fleet of commercial vehicles and strong relationships with third-party carriers. This gives us an unrivalled control over our inventory and delivery capability.
Key activities
Topps Group is home to premier UK tile retail and distribution brands including Topps Tiles, Pro Tiler Tools, CTD, Parkside, Tile Warehouse and Fired Earth. Our foremost retail brand Topps Tiles stands as the nation’s largest specialist distributor of tiles and associated products.
The Group’s strength lies in its ability to provide substantial support to all its brands, enabling them to cater to their respective customer segments with expertise and dedication. We are united by our love of tiles and this drives our commitment to excellence across the whole Group.
How we add value
The core purpose of Topps Group is to inspire customers through our love of tiles.
We put customers at the heart of what we do with help of following three pillars:
Environmental Leadership
Environmental Leadership
We challenged ourselves with an ambitious goal of becoming carbon neutral across Scopes 1 and 2 by 2030.
Topp People, Topp Service
Topp People, Topp Service
The Group’s success is underpinned by industry-leading levels of customer service
Digital and Operational Excellence
Digital and Operational Excellence
All our businesses focus on the delivery of very high levels of operational performance every day, supported by our systems, supply chain capabilities and back office functions.
Value we deliver
We deliver value to our customers and clients in Topps Group by combining differentiated products with excellence in customer service, delivered through nationwide store teams, direct sales teams, central support and digital convenience. This is combined with competitive pricing to ensure that all of our customers and clients receive great value.
We invest significant amounts of time, effort and money in the recruitment, retention and development of our colleagues. In Topps Tiles stores, commission payments often form a substantial part of our colleague remuneration, and our overall reward package is designed to support and maintain our high standards of customer service.
Our scale enables us to form long-term relationships with many of the world’s largest manufacturers of tiles and related products, and we often work collaboratively with them to develop new products, guaranteeing supply for them and securing exclusive products for us. Our strategic supplier base accounts for 62% of our purchases and many of our supplier relationships go back for decades.
We aim to deliver sustainable growth in Shareholder value. A part of this is through dividend payments and our capital allocation policy sees our dividend payments set at 67% of adjusted EPS, rising up to 100% of adjusted EPS in periods of macroeconomic weakness or short-term performance issues – a strong sign of confidence.
We are part of over 300 local communities around the country. We play a full part in these communities, from providing employment opportunities to engaging in charitable activity and sponsoring local sports teams. We are proud to partner with Alzheimer’s Society as our lead charity.
