Electric bikes and workshop trade drives Halfords to 5.2% cycling division growth

Halfords has this morning posted its trading update for the 20 weeks leading to August 18th, within which cycling, staycations and e-bikes are attributed to steady upwards growth.

Retail like-for-like revenue during the period rose by 3.5%, with overall group revenues up 2.7%.

As part of the update the breakdown of sectors revealed cycle sales to have increased by 5.2% with e-bikes and repair business said to be the standout performers. Motoring sales grew by 2.3%.

With the Cycle Republic portfolio now made up of 17 branches and trade from Tredz mirroring growth seen in the main Halfords business the group appears to have had a steady summer.

Chief executive Jill McDonald commented: “I am pleased with the trading performance over the first 20 weeks of the year in both Motoring and Cycling. A combination of good planning and execution meant that we optimised sales from the staycation summer, with strong growth in camping, roof boxes and cycle carriers. This complemented our service-related Retail sales, which grew significantly faster than our total sales, as we continue to demonstrate our relevance to the growing ‘do-it-for-me’ customer. Our foreign exchange mitigation plans are working in line with expectations and we are well prepared for the peak trading period through winter.”