BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Halfords’ Q4 results have revealed growth for its cycling arm, up 2.6 per cent in the period up to April 1st 2016.
It was the retailer’s second consecutive quarter of growth in bikes. Bike sales grew but that was offset by a small decline in P&A and clothing.
The bigger picture sees full year cycling business down – a 52 week period that includes what the trade has mostly agreed was a poor trading period. The full year cycling results were down marginally – 0.9 per cent – arguably indicating that for Halfords at least, 2015 overall wasn’t quite as bad as the trade had been indicating.
Overall, y-on-y yearly figures saw Halfords group up 1.7 per cent (3.2 per cent in Q4). Group profit before tax for the year ended April 1st 2016 is expected to be in the region of £78 to 82m.
Jill McDonald, Chief Executive, commented: "This was another good trading performance across the Group. Retail sales delivered solid growth supported by our service-led offerings and in Autocentres our sales continued to grow as we invested in new and refreshed centres. We are on track to meet profit expectations for the year and I look forward to providing an update on our Moving Up A Gear plans at our preliminary results on 1stJune."
