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Halfords Group PLC: Interim Results: Financial Year 2024
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Halfords Group PLC (HFD)
29 November 2023 Halfords Group plc Interim Results: Financial Year 2024
Strong H1 performance driven by substantial revenue and profit growth through increased market share, optimisation of our Autocentres business, and delivery of targeted cost savings. Halfords Group plc (“Halfords” or the “Group”), the UK’s leading provider of Motoring and Cycling services and products, today announces its interim results for the 26 weeks to 29 September 2023 (“the period”). Group Financial Summary
*H1 FY23 PBT restated to reflect adjustments relating to FX accounting and Cost of Goods Sold. As a result PBT for H1 FY23 has reduced by £10.6m from £29.3m to £18.7m, this has also affected EPS as disclosed in note 20. For further detail see page 11 of Chief Financial Officer’s report. See page 20 for glossary of alternative performance measures.
Overview
*H1 FY23 PBT restated to reflect adjustments relating to FX accounting and Cost of Goods Sold. For further detail see page 11 of Chief Financial Officer’s report. **Commercial agreement with Bridgestone closed post the period end, on 1 November 2023.
Current trading and Outlook Our B2B businesses and needs-based categories are continuing to show very strong growth. However, trading patterns have been volatile across the first half of the year, and in the last couple of months we have seen some market softening in our discretionary big-ticket categories, which has been reflected in slower LFL sales growth. We continue to expect FY24 profit delivery to be second half weighted as inflationary headwinds annualise, coupled with the delivery of the balance of FY24 targeted cost and efficiency savings of £30m. It does, however, remain challenging to predict whether the recent trends in discretionary categories will continue. Assuming trading conditions on average reflect what we have seen in the year to date, we believe FY24 Underlying PBT will now fall within a narrower range of £48m to £53m. We continue to believe that our strategic investments provide a strong platform for growth, validated by our market share gains in this period. Looking beyond FY24, assuming markets recover in line with projections, we remain confident in our mid-term target of £90m-£110m Underlying PBT, as outlined at the Capital Markets Day in April 2023.
Graham Stapleton, Chief Executive Officer: "Despite the challenging and volatile trading environment and slower than expected recovery in some of our markets, we have made a good start to the year, with substantial sales and profit growth, and increased market share across the business. At the same time, we supported our customers through the ongoing cost of living crisis by delivering great value – when they need it most. In the face of continuing economic uncertainty, we remain fully focused on optimising every element of the business, and I’m particularly pleased with the very strong performance of Autocentres, where we are delivering significantly improved returns. In light of this, we are accelerating capital investment in the garage services operating model and customer experience in ten towns in the balance of this financial year. It goes without saying that we simply could not deliver this performance without the hard work and dedication of our fantastic colleagues across the business. I am immensely grateful for their continued support through these very challenging times.”
Enquiries Investors & Analysts (Halfords) Jo Hartley, Chief Financial Officer Andrew Smith, Interim Group Financial Controller Louise Richardson, Interim Head of Investor Relations +44 (0)7483457415
Media (Powerscourt) +44 (0) 20 7250 1446 Rob Greening halfords@powerscourt-group.com Nick Hayns Elizabeth Kittle Results presentation A live webcast followed by a live Q&A call for analysts and investors will be held today, starting at 09:00am 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 information please contact Powerscourt using the details above. Next trading statement On 25 January 2024 we will report our Q3 Trading Update for the period ending 29 December 2023. Summary detail Group revenue summary (fig.1)
Market Volume and Share (fig.2)
1Sources: Market Volume data: Retail Motoring, GFK; Cycling, Bicycling Association; Consumer Tyres, GFK; Motor Servicing – MOT data from DVSA: for 6 months to end September 2023. Growth forecast provided by these third-party data providers. 2Sources: Market share data: Retail Motoring, GFK; Cycling, Bicycling Association; Consumer Tyres, GFK; Motor Servicing – MOT data from DVLA: for 6 months to end September 2023. 3 Halfords internal market share targets.
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 386 Halfords stores, 3 Performance Cycling stores (trading as Tredz and Giant), 645 garages (trading as Halfords Autocentres, McConechy’s, Universal, National Tyres and Lodge Tyre) and have access to 266 mobile service vans (trading as Halfords Mobile Expert, Tyres on the Drive and National) and 554 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 also 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. Chief Executive’s Statement The first half of FY24 has been a period of further strategic progress and resilient financial performance, despite the ongoing volatile economic backdrop. We continue to focus on what we can control: growing our market share across all product categories in the period; optimising our strategic investments in our more resilient, needs-based, Service and B2B businesses; and delivering cost and efficiency savings of £16.6m in the period. Our market share performance demonstrates our ability to attract new customers to Halfords, but we also continu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||