Jobs boost at Aberdeen accountancy firm Azets
An Aberdeen accountancy business plans to ramp up its headcount by 40 per cent after a move to new offices in the city.
Azets, which specialises in the small and mediumsized enterprise (SME) market, is taking a ten-year lease on offices in the heart of Aberdeen’s professional services district.
The open-plan accommodation at 37 Albyn Place extends to 4,500 square feet and will feature systems and facilities “designed to support the evolving hybrid home and office working culture”.
Azets previously operated from offices in Carden Place and West Craibstone Street. The new base will allow the firm to expand to more than 70 staff and trainees in the next two years – compared with a current staff of 50.
The new positions will include ten university graduate and student placement vacancies this year, with a further eight graduate and student placements in 2022. The wider Azets accountancy business operates across the UK and Europe, with 160 offices, 6,500 employees and 600 partners.
David Booth, managing partner in Aberdeen, said: “We are looking forward to working in a flexible, highly efficient environment that is very much in tune with how our staff want to work, and how we need to engage with our clients.
“Prior to the rebrand to Azets late last year, our previous business had a long and proud tradition serving clients, entrepreneurs and families across the North-east of Scotland. We are very much looking forward to continuing that tradition and creating new employment opportunities as the business expands.”
Halfords could see its profits double after bike sales soared during lockdown.
The cycling and car parts chain said it expects pre-tax profits for the year ending in April will hit between £90 million and £100m, up from £52.6m a year earlier.
Before the announcement analysts had been anticipating a figure of just over £70m, according to a company-provided consensus.
The figures are the first that the group has provided for the current crisis after it stopped guiding due to the pandemic. Less than two months ago it had said it would “not be appropriate” to give profits guidance at the moment.
Many companies have withdrawn their guidance due to the pandemic, and Halfords acknowledged that its range was wide.
It said in a stock market statement: “Although only six weeks remain of the 2021 financial year, the expected profit range remains quite broad as trading patterns continue to be volatile, with sales ahead of Easter particularly difficult to predict whilst the UK remains in lockdown.
“As the country starts to open up once more, our overriding priority remains the health and safety of our colleagues and customers.”
Halfords has continued to see volatility in the last seven
weeks since its third quarter ended, but trading has been better than anticipated.
Bike sales remain high, with sales at its cycling business up 43 per cent during the period compared with last year, on a like-for-like basis.
Halfords said a 14 per cent decline in motoring sales was better than traffic levels would suggest as there has been a 40 per cent drop in car journeys.
But sales of bulbs, batteries and general maintenance products have remained good,
the business added.
“Although we have continued to experience a volatile trading environment across the first seven weeks of the fourth quarter, overall trading has been stronger than we initially anticipated across the business,” Halfords, whose stores have remained open, said.
Full-year results are due to be announced on June 17.
Sophie Lund-yates, equity analyst at financial services firm Hargreaves Lansdown,
said: “Cycling sales have skyrocketed once again, and that’s despite Halfords having trouble getting hold of all the right stock. This suggests a deeprooted and organic demand for cycling goods.
“This is hardly surprising given lockdown living and the closure of gyms. But what this means at the business level for Halfords is significant.
“As a less profitable faction of the group, growing cycling’s scale should bring benefits. Cycling sales could be more insulated from a reduction in shop numbers too.
“Cycling enthusiasts are more likely to travel a little further to get what they’re looking for, compared to someone that’s after a new wiper blade.
“There’s no getting away from the uncertain trading outlook though. Mapping demand over the next couple of months is pretty much impossible.”