Automotive products retailer Halfords Group plc (HFD.L) Thursday reported a rise in profit for the 52 weeks ended April 1, as revenues increased, helped by an acquisition made last year.
Pre-tax profit rose to 118.1 million pounds ($193.98 million) from 109.7 million pounds in the prior year. Excluding a 7.5 million pounds provision for legal guarantee in fiscal 2011 and a 7.4 million pounds closure expense related to Central Europe in 2010, profit before tax advanced to 125.6 million pounds from 117.1 million pounds last year.
Profit attributable to equityholders increased to 85.5 million pounds from 77 million pounds in the prior year. Earnings per share rose to 40.2 pence from 36.6 pence. Revenue for the year increasd 4.6 percent to 869.7 million pounds from last year's 831.6 million pounds, reflecting the acquisition of Autocentres business in February 2010.
In the Retail business, revenue slipped 7 percent from last year to 771.6 million pounds. Autocentres revenue jumped to 98.1 million pounds from 13.5 million pounds.
Like-for-like sales, or LfL, averaged -5.5 percent for the Retail business, owing to challenging economic conditions as well as supply issues from the Far East following the Chinese New Year. Car Enhancement business suffered, while the Leisure business saw demand for tents and camping equipment.
The company's board announced a final dividend of 14 pence per share, flat with last year. Total dividend for the year has now increased 10 percent to 22 pence per share.
Regarding current trading, the company said, LfL for the 9 weeks to June 3 were up 0.8 percent, driven by a strong performance in Leisure, where LfL grew 11.1 pecrent, offset by declines in Car Enhancement and Car Maintenance.
David Wild, Chief Executive of the company, said, "We are pleased with the positive trend in early weeks' sales that benefited from good weather and the late Easter. While the tough trading environment is likely to continue, we seek to build on this momentum...The strength of our cash generation and our balance sheet means that we can pay material dividends, return capital to our shareholders and retain flexibility."
HFD.L closed Wednesday's regular trade at 397.80 pence, down 3.90 pence or 0.97 percent, on 1.02 million shares.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.