Halfords glides through Christmas season with high cycling sales
Sales were up for Halfords over the Christmas period, with total revenue rising 6.5 per cent during the third quarter.
During the 15 weeks to 9 January, the UK automotive and leisure product retailer performed particularly well in its car maintenance and cycling divisions, where like-for-like revenue went up by 11 per cent and 7.6 per cent, respectively.
Children's bike sales did particularly well, rising by 13.8 per cent. This highlights their continuing popularity as Christmas gifts.
Online retail grew by 16.5 per cent, and now makes up 12.9 per cent of total retail sales.
The results will pump some much-needed positivity into investors, whose lack of faith in Halfords resulted in shares falling by large amount earlier this month.
What Halfords said
Chief executive Matt Davies said:
The standout performer this quarter was Car Maintenance, with our service-led wefit offer again achieving record levels of Parts fitting, along with an excellent Parts sales performance, particularly in car batteries.Cycling sales continue to be strong, with Children's Bikes sales up 13.8% highlighting that, with the right product and service offer, a bike remains a popular Christmas present. Investment in our omni-channel proposition helped online sales grow to record levels, driven by Click & Collect.