Revenues up as motorists choose Halfords over brand franchises for servicing

By Peter Davison

7 September 2023

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Revenues are up at Redditch-headquartered car products retailer Halfords

Revenues are up at Redditch-headquartered car products retailer Halfords as motorists swap franchise dealer service for Halfords' alternative.

Revenue was up 14 per cent for the 20 week period ending August 18, investors were told yesterday (Wednesday).

The company – the UK's biggest provider of cycling and motoring services and products – forecast its annual underlying pretax profit to be between £48 million and £58 million – slightly up on the same period last year.

CEO Graham Stapleton said: "It’s been a good start to the year for Halfords, and our ongoing focus on essential maintenance and servicing is driving a strong performance in our Autocentre and Retail Motoring business.

"Group Motoring, which now accounts for over 75 per cent of our total sales, is a resilient sector and we’re progressing with our long-term plans to become a one-stop-shop for motoring ownership.

“We’re continuing to do everything that we can to support our customers through the cost-of-living crisis and are determined to offer them unrivalled value.

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"For instance, our research shows that motorists who use manufacturers’ franchised dealerships can pay over 50 per cent more for repairs compared with Halfords. With the average cost of car ownership pushing £300 a month, the last thing hard-pressed motorists need, is to pay over the odds for repairs."

To hammer home the message, said the CEO, the group was launching a campaign called Dealer or No Dealer, designed to raise motorists’ awareness of the choice and cost savings available to them for servicing and repairs, and that any work carried out by Halfords will not affect their manufacturer warranty.

By Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country.

An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts.

Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.