Halfords has upgraded its profit guidance for the full year as it cites recent trading and “continued strategic progress”.
Like-for-like sales growth was positive in the third quarter in retail and autocentres, with retail trading well over peak trading.
The retailer said its product and promotional proposition “resonated well” with customers, and Christmas gifting helped drive a like-for-like cycling sales growth of 13.1% in December.
Current trading has performed well and benefitted from cold weather recently, with motoring product delivering like-for-like sales growth of 5.5% in January.
Halfords noted “ongoing market volatility” in the first half of the financial year 2025, but has seen improvement in trading and continued progress on initiatives such as pricing, promotions and cost reduction measures in the second half.
It now expects underlying profit before tax to be between £32m and £37m for the full year.
Halfords does warn that there is “uncertainty” for the economic outlook in the UK stemming from the autumn Budget.
It said in a statement: “While the impact of changes to the minimum wage and national insurance contributions are relatively easy to quantify, adding circa £23m to our direct labour costs in FY26 alone as announced in November, their effects on the demand environment and health of the broader economy are harder to predict.
“We also continue to expect to see inflation passed through on managed services. We continue to work on possible mitigations for the additional costs we face and will share our plans alongside our FY25 results.”
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