Halfords motors on with ‘strong progress’ made

Halfords has posted strong preliminary results for the year to 3 April, boosted by a focus on motoring services and an upturn in bike sales.

The firm posted profits of £55.9m – down almost 5% on 2019, but better than expected in previous guidance. Revenues were up slightly, by 0.3% to £1.1bn.

Autocentres revenue grew +18.8%, boosted by the acquisitions of McConechy’s and Tyres on the Drive in the second half of Halfords’ financial year.

Graham Stapleton, chief executive, said: “This has been another year of good progress against the backdrop of a retail market that was challenging even before the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are particularly pleased to have delivered strong revenue growth in Group Services (+9%), Online (+17%) and B2B (+25%), which are our main areas of strategic focus. Our Autocentres business grew strongly, boosted by the acquisitions of both McConechy’s and Tyres on the Drive, and more broadly in motoring services we expanded our fleet of Mobile Expert vans from 3 to 75. This was particularly timely given strong demand for at-home services.

“The start of the current financial year has of course been dominated by the impact of COVID-19, and our status as an essential retailer was a clear endorsement of the wider role that Halfords has to play in keeping the UK moving. Having responded quickly and decisively to cater for the surge in popularity of cycling during lockdown, we are now seeing increased demand for motoring services and products as people start using their cars regularly again having not done so for the last few months.

“Despite the wider uncertainty caused by COVID-19, we remain confident in the long-term prospects for Halfords given the strong macro tailwinds within our market-leading Motoring and Cycling businesses. The strong progress we have made in FY20 and in the first quarter of FY21 has been made possible by the hard work and dedication of our thousands of colleagues, who I am proud to work alongside.”