Topps Tiles’ largest shareholder has staged “a revolt” against the company during the retailer’s latest general meeting, attempting to lead a vote against several of the board’s proposed resolutions.
Although all 13 of Topps Group’s proposed resolutions at the AGM on January 15 were able to pass the majority 50% voting threshold needed, four resolutions came perilously close to being voted down, reportedly as a result of its largest shareholder.
Resolutions to approve the directors’ remuneration report, the directors having the authority to import shares, and the re-election of both HR director Diana Breeze and outgoing CEO Robert Parker, were able to pass, but did so with 40% of company shareholders voting against the resolutions.
The company’s largest shareholder, Austrian-based investor MS Galleon, has an almost 30% share in the Topps Tiles business. According to The Times, it was responsible for attempting a so-called “revolt” against the company by leveraging the high percentage of opposition votes.
Towards the end of last year, MS Galleon’s managing director, Piotr Lipko, publicly criticised what he called “costly blunders” made by the retailer. Specifically, he said the acquisition of struggling tile retailer CTD Tiles was “unequivocally irrational” and “highly detrimental” to the interests of the business, and also called for a change of leadership.
Earlier this month, current Topps Tiles CEO Rob Parker announced he will be leaving the business, with the company looking to appoint his replacement before the end of 2025. Following the announcement, a spokesperson for Topps Tiles told kbbreview Parker’s departure was entirely unrelated to the recent shareholder criticism, and was instead “a decision he has been mulling for some time”.
The shareholder revolt follows a considerable drop in Topps Tiles share price, which is now trading at around 35p per share. However, at this time five years ago, shares were reportedly trading at almost 80p.
Furthermore, towards the end of last year, Topps Tiles reported a decline in sales of almost 6% across the year, blaming a “very challenging” trading environment. However, in more positive news,Topps said group sales in the 13 weeks ending December 28 were up by 4.6% year-on-year.
Following MS Galleon’s criticism on the business last year, Topps Tiles chairman Paul Forman commented: “We engage with all our larger shareholders on a regular basis and listen closely to their views. Our strategy was reviewed in April and presented to shareholders in May, with further updates given last week.
“Further expansion of our digital capabilities is at the heart of many of these growth initiatives. Our latest results show that we continue to take market share, consistently outperforming the wider tile market despite very challenging trading conditions. We believe this demonstrates the effectiveness of our strategy, which has the full support of the Board.”
