Retailer looks to move through the gears in crucial winter months

Halfords hopes it can start to move through the gears during the important winter months after reporting an increase in sales.

Profits were down for the first half of its financial year, to September 29, which it put down to the weaker pound.

It had previously warned investors that the depreciation of Sterling would increase costs by around £25m, of which £15m would hit in the first half of the year.

Halfords said its measures to mitigate the effect had helped to reduce the impact on underlying pre-tax profits to £4.0m – resulting in a 10% drop to £36.8m for the period. Sales for the 26-week period were up 4% to £588.7m.

Halfords’ chief financial officer Jonny Mason, who is currently acting up as interim chief executive, said: “It is pleasing to report positive sales growth for this period, despite the poorer summer weather and the uncertainty in the UK economy.

“We are also pleased with our profit performance in the half, as we offset a large part of the c.£15m increase in costs that resulted from the impact of the weaker pound. Looking ahead, we have strong plans both in-store and online for the Cyber, Christmas and winter peaks.”

The Redditch-based group employs 10,000 people across more than 300 sites in the UK.

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