Halfords Group PLC (HFD) Halfords Group PLC: Q3 Trading Update:
Financial Year 2022 13-Jan-2022 / 07:00 GMT/BST Dissemination of a
Regulatory Announcement, transmitted by EQS Group. The issuer is
solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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13 January 2022
Halfords Group plc
Q3 Trading Update: Financial Year 2022
Strong Group sales up +10.4% LFL over two years,
underpinned by an outstanding Autocentres performance through
the Q3 MOT peak.
Halfords Group plc ("Halfords" or the "Group"), the UK's leading
provider of motoring and cycling products and services, today
announces its Q3 trading update for the 13 weeks to 31 December
2021 ("the period"). To provide a better understanding of
underlying performance, all numbers unless otherwise stated are on
a two-year basis, that is, compared to FY20. For completeness the
table below contains both one-year and two-year performance
measures.
Headlines
-- Exceptional Autocentres performance, growing +33.1% LFL,
driven by a strong Q3 MOT peak, and our ongoinginvestment in
digital platforms and building brand awareness.
-- Retail sales were +5.6% LFL, with a strong performance during
October and November but a drop-off inperformance in the latter
part of the period as the Omicron variant grew in prominence.
-- The Group continues to target full year underlying profit
before tax of GBP80m to GBP90m, post IFRS16.
-- The acquisition of Axle Group ("National"), and associated
equity raise, secures our position as the UK'slargest vehicle
service, maintenance and repair business.
Q3 Group revenue summary
LFL Revenue Total Revenue LFL Revenue Total Revenue
Vs FY20 % Vs FY20 % vs FY21 % Vs FY21 %
Retail Motoring +3.1% -1.5% +11.2% +7.5%
Retail Cycling +9.2% -2.1% -21.2% -23.8%
Retail Total +5.6% -1.8% -5.3% -8.5%
Autocentres +33.1% +90.2% +10.7% +48.1%
Group +10.4% +13.9% -2.2% +2.7%
Key Highlights
In 2019, we accelerated our strategy to evolve Halfords into a
consumer and B2B services-focussed business, with a greater
emphasis on motoring, generating higher and more sustainable
financial returns. Our performance across the period has reaffirmed
the importance of increasing the mix of our business into less
discretionary, and more resilient Motoring services spend whilst
continuing to focus our Retail business on improving overall
returns.
-- Group revenue growth of +13.9% vs. FY20 and +10.4% LFL,
driven by a strong Autocentres, Services and B2Bperformance.
-- We continued to perform well in our areas of strategic
importance, with Group Service-Related Sales up+91% and B2B up
+60%.
-- We continue to develop a digital first business, with sales
up +71%, delivered through strong traffic toour site and improved
conversion.
-- Our investments in customer experience continue and have
delivered record NPS scores across the period.
-- In Autocentres;? Sales performance was particularly strong,
demonstrating the quality, convenience and breadth of ouroffer, and
the greater resilience of this market. ? Total sales growth across
Autocentres was +90.2% reflecting our acquired businesses, coupled
withstrong performance in our LFL business, which grew +33.1%. ? As
communicated at our Interim results in November, the Government's
MOT deferral programme in H1FY21 changed the seasonal profile of
MOTs, creating a new Q3 peak period for the Autocentres business. ?
Our Mobile Servicing business continued to perform well, up +72%
LFL, and our research indicates itwas the first business to average
4.8 stars from over 200,000 Trustpilot reviews. ? The integration
of our recent acquisition, National, is progressing to plan.
-- In Retail:? LFL sales grew +5.6%, with total sales -1.8%.
Strong sales in the first half of the period softenedpre-Christmas
as the emergence of Omicron impacted customer behaviour. ? LFL
growth exceeds total sales growth, reflecting our store closure
programme during Q4 FY21,designed to deliver a more productive and
profitable estate. ? Retail Motoring:? Sales were +3.1% LFL and
total revenue -1.5%. Market share data continued to show positive
trendsacross key product areas such as Car Cleaning, Oils and Child
Travel. ? We anticipated a softer motoring performance relative to
H1 driven by our pricing investments andlower staycation sales, but
Omicron and the resulting -15% fall in traffic during December
contributed toweaker demand and corresponding drop in performance.
? Retail Cycling:? Sales grew by +9.2% LFL but declined -2.1% at a
total level. ? Our own brand Premium Adult bikes performed well, up
+20%, as did E-bikes growing over +100%. ? Our online performance
cycling business "Tredz" also performed very well, up +47%. ? Kids
bikes sales started well but softened later in the period.
Unexpected freight delays inJunior bikes compounded the impacts of
Omicron including lower footfall and general customer caution.
Graham Stapleton, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
"These results demonstrate the strength of our Motoring Services
offer, and the outstanding performance from our Autocentres
business confirms the rationale behind our recent acquisitions.
With the recent addition of National to the Group, Motoring will
represent more than 70% of our revenue, and we expect to carry out
7.5 million motoring servicing jobs a year. We are working hard to
continually increase our capacity, capabilities, and geographic
reach in this area, making it easier and more convenient for
customers to have a broader range of vehicles serviced than ever
before at over 1,400 fixed or mobile Motoring Services
locations.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to present a number of
headwinds and put significant pressure on our colleagues, who have
navigated their way through a variety of challenges and issues. It
is their resilience, dedication, and expertise that have produced
another good set of results, and I would like to take this
opportunity to thank each and every one of them."
Outlook
We continue to target a full-year underlying profit before tax
on a post-IFRS 16 basis of GBP80m to GBP90m. The Omicron impact
seen in December shows that the challenges associated with COVID-19
are still present. Our guidance assumes that the impacts of Omicron
continue to diminish, and that we do not experience further
variants of similar severity.
Looking further ahead, we remain confident that our ongoing
strategic investment will continue to build resilience and underpin
future growth, and we look forward to building on our progress to
date.
Enquiries
Investors & Analysts (Halfords)
Loraine Woodhouse, Chief Financial Officer
Richard Guest, Corporate Finance Director
Andy Lynch, Head of Investor Relations +44 (0) 7483 457 415
Media (Powerscourt) +44 (0) 20 7250 1446
Rob Greening halfords@powerscourt-group.com
Nick Hayns
Analysts Conference Call
A conference call for analysts will be held today, starting at
08:00am UK time. Attendance is by invitation only. A copy of the
transcript of the call will be available at www.halfordscompany.com
in due course. For further details please contact Powerscourt on
the details above.
Next trading statement
On 16 June 2022 we will report our Preliminary results for the
financial year ending 1 April 2022.
Notes to Editors
www.halfords.com www.tredz.co.uk www.halfordscompany.com
Halfords is the UK's leading provider of motoring and cycling
services and products. Customers shop at 404 Halfords stores, 3
Performance Cycling stores (trading as Tredz and Giant), 604
garages (trading as Halfords Autocentres, McConechy's, Universal,
National and Iverson) and have access to 234 mobile service vans
(trading as Halfords Mobile Expert and Tyres on the Drive) and 192
Commercial vans. Customers can also shop at halfords.com and
tredz.co.uk for pick up at their local store or direct home
delivery, as well as booking garage services online at
halfords.com.
Cautionary statement
This report contains certain forward-looking statements with
respect to the financial condition, results of operations, and
businesses of Halfords Group plc. These statements and forecasts
involve risk, uncertainty and assumptions because they relate to
events and depend upon circumstances that will occur in the future.
There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or
developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied
by these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking
statements are made only as at the date of this announcement.
Nothing in this announcement should be construed as a profit
forecast. Except as required by law, Halfords Group plc has no
obligation to update the forward-looking statements or to correct
any inaccuracies therein.
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ISIN: GB00B012TP20
Category Code: TST
TIDM: HFD
LEI Code: 54930086FKBWWJIOBI79
OAM Categories: 3.1. Additional regulated information required to be disclosed under the laws of a Member State
Sequence No.: 136251
EQS News ID: 1268133
End of Announcement EQS News Service
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