A second-quarter rally at car and cycles specialist Halfords was given an extra shine last week with the news Matt Davies has filled the driving seat left vacant by David Wild in July.

A second-quarter rally at car and cycles specialist Halfords was given an extra shine last week with the news Matt Davies has filled the driving seat left vacant by David Wild in July.

The former Pets at Home boss has been considered a rising star for some time, and it was always a matter of where and when, rather than if, he would take another top job within retail.

The news has been overwhelmingly well received by those watching Halfords. Davies brings with him an enviable track record from Pets, where in eight years at the helm he transformed the group, more than doubling store numbers and eventually selling to KKR for £955m in 2010, in one of the largest retail private equity deals.

His experience of championing service and product innovation will be ideally suited to a retailer whose recent malaise is less to do with structural problems and more to do with the execution of the right retail strategy.

Certainly, Davies faces challenges. At Pets he was able to aggressively expand the portfolio, while at Halfords he arguably has the opposite to do as its estate looks ill-suited to the digital age. He will also be confronted by a competitive market – not least online – and a squeeze on his core consumer. These issues will need to be navigated while learning to deal with the pressures of running his first publicly listed company (Big story, p18).

But, in delivering consensus-beating numbers in its second quarter, Halfords has done its best to welcome the new chief warmly. There is little doubt it has benefited from the glory-grabbing performances of Team GB’s Olympic and Paralympic cyclists. However, there are clear signs that the recovery goes beyond the latest Pendleton two-wheeler. All of which will give Davies breathing room to make the long-term changes he needs to deliver.