1st Oct 2020 08:50
(Alliance News) - Bike and car parts retailer Halfords Group PLC on Thursday said it expects its interim profit to double as demand stays strong, even as the UK's "staycation" season draws to a close.
Halford's stock surged 19% to 215.36 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
In the five weeks to September 25, like-for-like sales surged 22%, with cycling alone seeing a 46% jump during the period.
Many holidaymakers in the UK have opted to stay closer to home in their travels during summer 2020, amid ever changing international quarantine requirements, boosting demand for outdoor products firms such as Halfords.
"Despite the peak Cycling and Staycation season coming to an end, this positive momentum has continued," the company said.
"Motoring in our Retail business improved to 7.5% life-for-like in the five-week period. Our Autocentres business continued to grow strongly, up 18% like-for-like (64% including acquisitions)."
Halfords now expects interim underlying pretax profit before IFRS16 in excess of GBP55 million, more than doubled annually from GBP25.9 million achieved in the six months to September 27 of last year.
"We do, however, remain cautious in our outlook for H2. The potential impact of second waves of Covid-19 now seems more pronounced than just a few weeks ago, and the economic impact of an end to the furlough scheme and the outcome of Brexit negotiations remains very uncertain," Halfords added.
By Eric Cunha; [email protected]
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