Halfords reported sales growth for the second successive quarter today after warm weather and the weak pound led to increased numbers of “staycationers” using their cars, bicycles and camping equipment during the summer.

The car, cycling and camping products retailer said that sales increased by 3.8 per cent in the 13 weeks to last Friday.

Sales growth for the same period on a like-for-like basis was 2.2 per cent. This follows a rise of 1.3 per cent in the first quarter.

David Wild, the chief executive, said: “We are pleased with our performance in the first half year. We have further increased share in our strong markets, managed margins tightly and controlled costs effectively while making selective investments to support future growth.

“Our service initiatives, particularly fitting, and halfords.com are performing ahead of expectations and well above last year.”

Although revenues from satellite navigation devices continued to decline, profit losses were mitigated by improved sales of other car products such as the “wefit” car accessories range.

In a statement, the group said that it was confident it would be able to deliver half-year pre-tax profits of between £59 million and £61 million.

Shares began to climb this morning, up at 388.4p in early deals after closing yesterday at 364.3p.

Halfords will announce its interim results on November 19.

Source : The Times

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