Halfords' trading update this week demonstrated continued progress. In the 11 weeks to 19 March, Halfords' main UK and Ireland unit saw like-for-like sales rise by a resilient 1.3 per cent.
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The car maintenance operation was the main growth driver - reflecting the benefits of a prolonged winter, that unit saw like-for-like sales rise 13 per cent in the period. And even though the bicycle business didn't perform as well as expected, it still delivered a robust 1.9 per cent like-for-like sales hike. But satellite navigation sales continued to decline sharply and Halfords is to close its central European operations after suffering operating losses there.
