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Halfords' top-line outperforms

The bicycle and automotive chain enjoyed better sales during the first quarter, but was arguably up against easy comparative figures
September 5, 2017

High street chain Halfords (HFD) surprised the market with better-than-expected like-for-like growth over the first 20 weeks of its financial year. Sales rose 2.7 per cent across the group on an underlying basis, and 3.5 per cent across the retail division – enough to send the shares up 4 per cent in response.

IC TIP: Sell at 323p

But the group was up against extremely weak comparative figures thanks to last year’s terrible weather and, looking ahead, corresponding growth rates are going to become increasingly tough to beat. There’s also no change to margin guidance, prompting some analysts to leave forecasts unchanged.