Halfords gets electric boost

BOOMinG sales of electric bikes in the run-up to Christmas have helped Halfords stick to its full-year profit guidance.

the car equipment and bicycle retailer said it sold 96pc more electric bikes in the 14 weeks to January 3 than the same time last year, and that one in five bikes and scooters sold are electric.

Chief executive Graham Stapleton said the rise in sales was powered by customers’ efforts to be more environmentally friendly, as electric bikes are a greener way to travel short distances than diesel cars or motorbikes. Stapleton said: ‘Customers are responding to what they’re seeing on climate.

‘there’s just no doubt that electric is now here – it’s no longer an emergent small trend. it’s becoming a very significant part of our business in both cars and bikes.’

Older customers who wanted to return to cycling were also boosting sales of electric bikes, Stapleton added.

although the mild winter was doing little to help Halfords sell some of its more traditional car accessories, like ice scrapers and antifreeze liquid, the company still expects to meet its pre-tax profit guidance of £50m to £55m for the year to March 2020.

Like-for-like revenue was down 1.8pc in its retail division over the first 40 weeks of its financial year, as a 4.5pc slide in motoring sales outweighed the strong cycling performance.

But like-for-like sales in its autocentres were up 2.9pc, meaning the whole group’s revenues were down 1.2pc.