Today in Retail: Halfords hopes to avoid Brexit blues

The City appeared convinced by the results too, as Halfords’ share price soared nearly 9%.

But like the rest of the industry, a dark Brexit-coloured cloud remains on the horizon for the cycling and car parts retailer.

McDonald was forced to concede her business will have to raise the price of bikes due to sterling’s collapse from Britain’s vote to leave the EU.

But the former McDonald’s UK boss is not flipping out about the hikes.

Chiefly, that’s because she feels Halfords is better placed to mitigate the rises by negotiating with suppliers, helped by the size of its business.

It throws into sharp focus how Brexit will spit out plenty of losers.

And those could well be the less savvy, smaller retailers unable to protect their customers from price rises.

Elsewhere today, Pets at Home was left to squeal after its share price took a hammering off the back a disappointing third-quarter update.

Investors appeared dismayed at a decline in like-for-likes sales in the specialist’s key merchandising division.

Fashion retailer N Brown enjoyed a strong peak trading performance, driven by bumper online sales, where it now bags 70% of its revenues.

And a new study suggests that location, not price, is the key determinant for a shopper choosing where to buy their groceries.

Quote of the day

“It’s inevitable over time that we will have to move some prices” 

– Halfords boss Jill McDonald warns of price rises in the face of Brexit 

Today in numbers

£177.4m

Pets at Home’s total third-quarter retail sales, which were flat year-on-year

5.9%

The lift in total retail sales at N Brown during its third-quarter

Tomorrow’s agenda

We bring you the latest edition of our weekly round-up The Retail Week. Fashion retailer Bonmarché updates and we get the latest ONS retail figures. And, as you may have heard, one Donald J Trump will be inaugurated as the US’s 45th president.

James Wilmore, news editor