Halfords witnessed a profit and sales rise in its first half, boosted by its cycling revenues.
The motoring and cycling retailer, which recently hired Sarah Haywood as its new CIO, saw group sales increase 4% on a LFL basis to £893m over the half, for the 26 weeks to 26 September. Cycling revenues grew 9% to £208m, while motoring sales nudged up 1% to £324m.
Retail sales jumped 4% to £533m from £516m the same time last year.
The brand noted that its cost savings were on track, which was predominantly benefitting the cost of goods sold through its Better Buying programme.
In addition, £28m of free cash generation further strengthened its balance sheet, with the business witnessing £19m of net cash at the period end.
It highlighted that motoring now represented around 80% of its sales, driven by the ongoing roll-out of its Fusion garages and the Halfords Motoring Club.
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Halfords revealed that its chair, Keith Williams, would be stepping down from his role and its board of directors by its next annual general meeting in September 2026.
Halfords said it was confident in delivering its FY26 underlying pre-tax profit and continued to expect capital expenditure for its full-year to be within its guided £60m to £70m range.
Halfords CEO Henry Birch said: “I am very pleased to be announcing a strong set of HY26 results that show good financial, strategic and operational progress.
“Cycling was the stand-out performer, with LFL sales up 9%. Our consumer garages also performed particularly well, up around 8%, driven in part by the ongoing roll-out of our new format Fusion garages.”
He added: “Looking ahead, there are significant opportunities for us to create further value through improvements in our technology and data capability, which are key areas of focus for us as we plan for the future.
“While the operating environment remains unpredictable, our combination of needs-based products and services, as well as market leading positions in both motoring and cycling, give us the confidence that we will continue to grow our business in line with our plans.”
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