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The chief executive of Italtile, the JSE-listed group behind household names CTM and TopT, delivered results this week that laid bare the damage a flood of cheap imports has done to one of South Africa's most established home-finishing retailers.
Trading profit fell 14 percent to R1 billion for the six months ended December 2025, with headline earnings per share sliding to 60.6 cents. System-wide turnover held flat at R6.1 billion, but flat was not what Foxcroft was hoping for.
The root problem, as Foxcroft sees it, is a structural one. Excess manufacturing capacity and overproduction in neighbouring SADC countries has led to overstocking and badly depressed pricing across the region. Cheaper products have poured into South Africa, undercutting local producers and dampening consumer demand at a time when homeowners are already watching their spending.
The situation was made worse in 2025 when Johnson Tiles, a 110-year-old manufacturer and one of the country's largest ceramic tile producers, shut down completely. That single closure stripped five million square metres of annual production capacity from the local industry and left just two domestic producers standing. Rather than creating breathing room for survivors like Italtile, it simply opened more space for imports to fill.
Not everything in Foxcroft's results was bleak. Italtile Retail posted higher sales volumes and gained market share, and the projects division had a strong run after the group was named predominant tile supplier to the Club Med development in KwaZulu-Natal. But those gains could not carry the weight of what was happening on the manufacturing side. Ceramic Industries, the group's tile-making arm, ran at just 77 percent capacity utilisation, and cost cuts were not deep enough to stop profitability from sliding.
What has particularly grated on Foxcroft is a double standard baked into the regional trade environment. Cheap tiles from SADC countries enter South Africa with little resistance, yet when Italtile tries to export back into those same markets, it runs into protectionist walls that effectively lock it out. The result: export volumes fell during the period even as imports rose.
Foxcroft has taken the fight to regulators. Italtile has filed with the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa seeking relief from what it regards as dumping, and the CEO said he is hopeful ITAC will rule on interim measures before the end of 2026, though the process could stretch to 18 months.
Foxcroft steps down as CEO on June 30, handing the reins to Brandon Wood, the current chief operating officer. He will leave behind a business still standing, still profitable, but fighting for ground on a field that has tilted against it.
