Halfords profits beat expectations
Halfords has posted better than expected underlying pre-tax profit in the year to 28 March, with a rise of 6.4% to £38.4 million.
This compares to its previously guided range of £32 million to £37 million.
Group like-for-like sales were also up in the period, increasing by 2.5%, after autocentre and retail sales grew 3.7% and 2.1% respectively.
Halfords said it delivered cost savings of around £35 million to offset £33 million of inflation, which was mostly due to increased labour costs.
Never Miss a Retail Update!It also made progress with its new Fusion motoring services programme with 50 locations now trading.
Henry Birch, Halfords’ recently appointed chief executive, said: “I am very pleased to be announcing a positive set of results for Halfords. The business has delivered a strong financial performance, made good strategic progress and has a clear plan in place to tackle external inflationary forces.
“Halfords has a unique combination of retail stores, garages and mobile vans, a trusted brand, scaled omnichannel infrastructure, and access to valuable proprietary data. It is an exciting time to be joining and I see significant potential to optimise and grow this fantastic business.”
The retailer said trading in the early weeks of its new financial year is in line with expectations as it plans to offset another year of elevated inflation through a combination of pricing, buying and cost opportunities.
It is also planning a further roll out of its Fusion garages to more than 100 locations and will be investing to the improve customer experience, including in its contact centre and digital channels.
Birch said: “In the coming months, I intend to spend more time identifying priority areas for optimisation in the business where I can see the most significant opportunities to unlock future value.
“My early impressions suggest that technology and data are strong candidates here, but I plan to update the market with a more comprehensive assessment when we release our interim results later in the year.”
