Halfords Group, the UK’s leading provider of motoring and cycling products and services, issued a trading update ahead of its FY26 results saying FY26 underlying profit before tax is expected to be around the upper end of the consensus range of £36.0 to £41.2m.
Group like-for-like sales grew by 4.8% with Retail LfL sales up 4.1%, Autocentres (ex-Avayler) LfL up 5.8%, Motoring up 2.9% and Cycling up 6.4%.
“We expect this momentum to convert into further progress as we drive operational excellence through the ‘optimise’ phase of our strategy,” Henry Birch, Chief Executive, said.
The group said the profit outlook reflects further gross margin expansion and well managed costs and that it remains cash generative, closing the period in a net cash position.
Halfords flagged that the conflict in the Middle East has added macro uncertainty but trading in March and April has been in-line with expectations and the majority of FY27 energy costs and FX requirements are hedged with freight largely contracted.
As a result, the company said it is currently comfortable with consensus expectations for FY27 underlying PBT of £42m to £48.6m and will publish preliminary FY26 results on 25 June.
