Topps Tiles has acquired the business and certain assets of retail and wholesale brand CTD tiles for £9 million after the company fell into administration.

The administrators said the business faced financial challenges relating to its cashflow in recent months which prompted the directors to run an accelerated M&A process to secure new investment.

James Lumb and Will Wright were appointed as Joint Administrators on 19 August 2024 and immediately secured the sale to Topps Group.

“CTD Tiles is a major player in the industry, but market conditions proved insurmountable as consumer and trade demand failed to recover in line with expectations,” Lumb said.

CTD Tiles supplied tiles to the UK trade and consumer markets and operated out of 86 store locations.

As part of the agreement, Topps Tiles will receive ownership of 30 stores, the operation of distribution hubs in Leeds and Kings Norton under a transitional services agreement, and the CTD brands. The remaining 56 stores will close.

Around 90 staff will transfer to Topps Tiles with 65 more employees retained as part of the transitional services agreement to help deliver the administration. The remainder will be made redundant.

“CTD operates a different model to our existing Topps Tiles retail stores, with separate trade and retail offers within each unit and a number of market-specific sub-brands which are differentiated from our existing offer,” said Rob Parker, chief executive officer of Topps Group. “The acquisition of 30 high quality stores and selected supporting infrastructure, together with the intellectual property and customer data required to service CTD’s existing commercial customers in the housebuilding and A&D markets, provide us with an opportunity to make material progress towards our Mission 365 sales goal.”

The company’s collapse marks the latest sign of trouble in the homewares market, with Carpetright last month bringing in the administrators after 36 years in business.

The knock-on impact of Carpetright’s failure also saw The Floor Room, which traded through concessions in 34 John Lewis stores and was historically operationally reliant on Carpetright, fall into administration earlier this month.

---