UK's Halfords profit jumps 1% on strong bicycle sales

(Reuters) -Britain's Halfords reported a 1% rise in first-half profit on Thursday, as strong bicycle sales helped offset costs and other inflationary pressures.

A combination of elevated inflation, higher labour costs and tempering consumer spending on discretionary purchases has pushed retailers such as Halfords to tighten costs and use more flexible pricing to support demand and protect margins.

The bicycles and car parts provider's group sales rose 4.1% on a like-for-like basis, with revenue from bicycles jumping 9% along with growth in both its retail and car maintenance businesses.

"Current trading appears a shade below 1H, but that is consistent with most retailers at present," analysts at Peel Hunt said in a statement.

The company would pursue a three-phase strategy – "Optimise, Evolve, Scale" – to improve returns and expand its services business, Halfords CEO Henry Birch said.

The Redditch, England-based company also said that its chair, Keith Williams, plans to step down from the position by its next Annual General Meeting in September 2026.

The company reaffirmed expectations of delivering underlying pre-tax profit for the year ending March 2026, in-line with market consensus of between 36 million pounds and 40.7 million pounds ($47.65 million and $53.87 million), as per a company-compiled poll.

It reported an underlying pre-tax profit of 21.2 million pounds for the six months ended September 26, compared with 21 million pounds a year prior.

($1 = 0.7555 pounds)

(Reporting by Raechel Thankam Job and Nithyashree R B in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)