Like-for-likes rise on back of cycling and sat-nav boom
Halfords posted its preliminary results this morning, with sales up 8.5 per cent at£681.7 million against£628.4 million last year.

Like-for-like sales rose 6.1 per cent, but pre-tax profits failed to keep pace, rising a more modest 3.6 per cent to£77 million against last year's figure of£74.3 million.

Halfords attributed much of the trading improvement to strong growth in cycles and in-car technology, as well as its continuing roll-out of mezzanines.

Halfords chief executive Ian McLeod said that in the nine-week period since the end of the retailer's financial year, sales have risen 10.5 per cent with like-for-likes up by 7.3 per cent and that he had confidence in the company's future trading prospects.