Halfords smashes winter ice to beat profit foreceasts

The winter weather's toll on Britain's cars made motorists flock to Halfords to get new bulbs, batteries and wiper blades.

The nation's largest motor accessories trader will beat City profit expectations for the financial year which ends next week. Pre-tax profits are likely to come in between £114 million and £116 million, £2 million to £4 million up on analysts' forecasts and well up on last year's £102 million.

But the bad weather was not all good news for Halfords with cycle revenues growing by just 1.9% in the last 11 weeks compared with car maintenance sales up by 13%.

The chain's chief executive, David Wild, said: "The financial year has been a positive one for Halfords and with both of our divisions continuing to trade strongly in the fourth quarter, we expect that full year group earnings before exceptional items will be ahead of market expectations.

"Looking forward, while the consumer environment remains challenging, we are confident that our leading positions, combined with further cost saving initiatives, will enable us to deliver another good result."

Wild also announced that Halfords was pulling out of its loss-making eastern Europe business. It will close its seven stores in Poland and the Czech Republic which lost a total of £2.8 million in the last 12 months.