Its come along way since these were a pair of old boots,just bought today mid 280s,spent a few pounds in there of late,so why not!

Half Yearly Report (Halfords)





TIDMHFD

RNS Number : 7220C
Halfords Group PLC
19 November 2009

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19 November 2009


Halfords Group plc ("halfords")
STRONG FIRST HALF DELIVERY DRIVES REVENUE, EARNINGS AND DIVIDEND GROWTH


Halfords, the UK's leading automotive and leisure products retailer, announces
its Interim results for the 26 weeks to 2 October 2009.


Financial Highlights1:
* Revenue GBP425.1m up 3.8% (2008: GBP409.6m), with like-for-like2 sales increase
of 1.7%
* Gross profit percentage improves by 190 basis points to 53.3% (2008: 51.4%)
* Operating profit GBP62.0m up 12.9% (2008: GBP54.9m)
* Profit before tax GBP60.9m up 24.0% (2008: GBP49.1m)
* Basic earnings per share 20.6p up 23.4% (2008: 16.7p)
* Interim dividend 6.00p up 20.0% (2008: 5.00p)
* Operating cash flow of GBP112.3m reduces net debt to GBP106.0m, 0.78x EBITDA4
(2008: GBP174.0m, 1.38x)



Business Highlights:
* Excellent performance in Leisure with market share growth and record camping
season.
* Continued growth in car maintenance supported by 180,000 additional "wefit"
transactions.
* Multi-channel sales increase by over 50% to 5.2% of sales.
* Gross and operating margin expansion continues, reflecting trading strategies
and cost management.
* Group to deliver GBP4m from operating efficiencies, significantly mitigating
underlying cost inflation.
* Lease secured on new core 320,000 sq ft distribution centre to secure further
efficiencies from mid 2010.
* Disciplined approach to working capital, operating costs and capital expenditure
contributes to a significant and sustainable reduction in operating net debt.
* Seven new stores opened in the period.

Halfords Expands into Car Servicing & Repair via Nationwide Acquisition

Highlights

Halfords acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Nationwide, creates the largest UK operator with a specialised focus on the car parts, servicing and repair market.

Nationwide provides servicing, MOTs and repairs for both the consumer and fleet markets, and from its 224 centres, is the only national operator that offers dealership quality service at lower prices.

Nationwide's highly experienced and successful management team will join the enlarged Group.

The Group intends to open at least 200 additional centres in the coming years. This doubling of scale provides a strong growth opportunity, requires low capital investment and generates working capital inflows. The expansion programme will be funded from the Group's net cash flow.

Further growth opportunities are anticipated from cross-marketing of the Group's complementary customer base. Cost and purchasing synergies are also anticipated.

Nationwide's EBITDA has grown by 70% over the past four years and in the year ended 31 December 2009 is expected to be 10.1m from revenues of 97.0m.

The re-branded Halfords Autocentre business is anticipated to double EBIT to c.20m in its third year of ownership and is expected to increase earnings per share by c.6% in its first full financial year within the Group.


The acquisition, completed on a debt-free basis, has been funded from the Group's existing

New high today.

Interim Management Statement.

Revenue performance was led by margin enriching Car Maintenance product and service sales, which delivered like-for-like growth of 13%. This reflects the benefit from the prolonged winter weather together with a record quarter of fitting participation of Bulbs, Blades and Batteries. Conversely, in its lowest participation period, the Leisure category has traded below internal expectations, with Cycle revenues, only increasing by 1.9% on a like-for-like basis. As expected, the Satellite Navigation market remains challenging with revenues continuing to decline sharply year on year.

Up again today.

Final Results.

Financial Highlights

On a comparable 52-week basis3, excluding non-recurring items, the Group's performance is summarised:

Revenue 831.6m, 4.6% increase with underlying, Easter adjusted, like-for-like sales increasing by 0.7%

Gross margin per cent increased by 230bps year on year to 54.4%

Operating profit119.7m up 17.5%, representing 14.4% of sales (2009: 12.8%)

Profit before tax 117.1m up 26.7%

Basic earnings per share 39.7p up 24.8%

Operating cash flow4 at 179.6m, (FY09: 114.2m), 125% of EBITDA

Recommended final dividend 14.00p, making a total of 20.00p per ordinary share (2009:15.90p), up 25.8%

Net debt, after funding the acquisition of Nationwide, at 155.5m (2009: 173.9m) represents 1.0x EBITDA



Business Highlights
Continued strong sales and market share growth in car maintenance and cycling

Margin gains reflect successful ongoing implementation of active trading strategies

Service differentiation continues, with strong growth in wefit and werepair jobs, increasing by 40% to 2.1m

Multi-channel revenue grew by 34% and accounts for 6% of total revenue

Successful delivery of cost saving initiatives with 6m annualised cost reductions crystalising in 2010

Acquisition and successful integration of Nationwide Autocentres, the UK's leading independent car servicing and repair operator

Interim Management Statement.

Halfords Group

Group revenues increased by 9.6% year on year, reflecting the acquisition of Nationwide Autocentres in February 2010. Within the Group's trading divisions, like-for-like sales2 after adjusting for the impact of Easter, for Halfords Retail3 and Autocentres were -2.1% and flat respectively. At the Group level, this represented a like-for-like revenue decline of -1.9%.



Halfords Retail

Similar to many hard-lines retailers, Halfords experienced a sluggish start to the spring season reflecting poor weather in April and consumer nervousness ahead of the General Election and subsequent emergency Budget. Furthermore, with the World Cup being held in June, a decision was taken to delay the start of our Summer Leisure promotional campaign to mid July.

Trading Statement.

Revenues

Group revenues for the half-year increased by 7.6% year on year, reflecting the acquisition of Nationwide Autocentres in February 2010. Within the Group's trading divisions, like-for-like sales2 for Halfords Retail3 and Autocentres decreased by 4.5% and 0.8% respectively. At the Group level, this represented a like-for-like decline of 4.1%.


During the second quarter, Group sales increased by 5.5% over the equivalent period last year. This period saw the successful conclusion of an 18-month programme to transition the Group's existing distribution centres to a more efficient and cost effective configuration, with the impact to sales during the transition period estimated to be c. 1.4% across the second quarter. On an underlying basis, excluding the estimated impact of disruption to sales, like-for-like sales declined by 4.9% in Halfords Retail. Autocentres delivered a like-for-like revenue decline of 1.5%.


First Half Profit Before Tax.

Group profit before tax for the first half is expected to be in the range of 67-69 million which represents, at the mid-point, year-on-year profit growth of 12%. Throughout the first half our focus remained on managing the controllable elements of the business where actions taken to manage gross margins, reduce costs and increase efficiency have delivered the benefits we expected.

Half Yearly Report.

Financial Highlights
On a comparable 26-week basis the Group's performance is summarised:

Revenue 456.3m, 7.3% increase with like-for-like sales2 decreasing by 4.9%

Operating profit 69.1m up 11.5%, representing 15.1% of sales (2009: 14.6%)

Profit before tax 68.7m up 12.8%

Basic earnings per share 24.1p up 17.0%

Net debt at 109.8m (2009: 106.0m) represents 0.7x pro-forma EBITDA

Interim dividend 8.00p (2009: 6.00p), up 33.3%



Business Highlights

Sales and market share growth in Car Maintenance, Premium Cycling and Outdoor Leisure

Service differentiation continues, with strong growth in wefit and werepair jobs

Multi-channel accounts for c.9% of total revenue after further strong growth

Retail gross margin gains reflect increased service penetration & active trading strategies

Successful delivery of infrastructure initiatives, reducing annualised costs by 8m per annum

Autocentre development plan on track, rebranding of all centres to be completed early 2011

Successful refinancing of Group's maturing debt arrangements.

I like the look of the HFD (halfords) chart. should be a benificiary of car owners bodding up their own cars come next spring and the cuts bite. also should be making a lot of money out of thier auto centres and sledges with all this snowy weather.

Attractive dividend, too

Interim Management Statement.

Halfords Group

In the quarter Group4 revenuesincreased by 3.5% as a result of our Autocentres acquisition in February 2010. Within the trading divisions, Retail revenues decreased by 6.6% Like-for-Like (LfL) and Autocentres revenues increased by 1.6% LfL.


As previously stated we reinvested first half margin gains in stronger promotions in the quarter. For the full year, we retain our guidance that gross margins will be broadly flat. Group pre-tax profit in the quarter was slightly less than anticipated and for the full year is expected to be at the lower end of the market range5 6.


Halfords Retail


Car maintenance sales were strong, growing by +12% LfL as we helped customers cope with difficult winter
conditions

Fitting levels of Bulbs, Blades and Batteries grew by 29% to a record 26% of car maintenance sales

Cycle sales were -16% LfL as fewer children's cycles were given as presents and premium bikes were affected by
the temporary slow-down in Cycle-to-Work sales

Strategic initiatives delivered targeted cost savings and productivity benefits

Our new distribution centre operated efficiently ensuring optimum levels of product availability



Halfords Autocentres



Retail customer numbers increased by 3.1%

Average retail customer transaction values increased by 1.4%

151 centres re-branded as "Halfords Autocentres" and 7 new centres opened

Looks good for a short term trade does halfords.

Excellent run for the past 7 sessions.

3 June 2011

Halfords Group plc

Non-recurring charge relating to lease guarantees

Halfords Group plc, the UK's leading retailer of automotive and leisure products and leading operator in garage servicing and auto repair, announces that;

Following the decision by Focus DIY to enter into administration and the subsequent announcement of the closure of stores, Halfords will recognise a non-recurring expense of GBP7.5m in the year ended 1 April 2011. This non-recurring expense relates to the creation of a provision for the potential liabilities arising from guarantees provided by Halfords prior to July 1989. An estimate of the potential liability relating to these guarantees was previously disclosed as a contingent liability. The guarantees were provided to landlords of properties leased by Payless DIY (now part of Focus DIY) when both Halfords and Payless DIY were under the ownership of the Ward White Group. It is anticipated that the cash outflow relating to the guarantees will be incurred over the next three years. The Group is taking mitigating actions to reduce these liabilities.

Final Results.

Financial highlights
Group revenue up 4.6%, following the first full year of the Autocentres integration

Underlying profit before tax up 7.2% driven by improved gross margin and strong cost control

Underlying earnings per share up 8.8% at 43.2p (FY10 39.7p)

Total dividend up 10% to 22.0p (FY10 20.0p).

Continued strong cash generation with net debt down 52.3m to 103.2m

75m share buyback programme underway; c.20.7m of cash returned to date



Business Highlights
Resilient performance in Car Maintenance across the year

Strong growth in wefit jobs, a record 1.91m jobs during year

Significant growth in Halfords.com, now 9% of retail sales

Autocentres rebranded and relaunched with positive sales uplift

Substantial infrastructure progress through colleague scheduling and new DC

Completed exit from Central Europe to focus on UK/ROI opportunities

Just closed an intraday short +20.

Interim Mangement Statement.

HIGHLIGHTS

-- Cycling LfL sales up 11.5% driven by premium and new entry-level bikes

-- Wefit 3Bs penetration increases to 22.4%, and Audio fit sales up 38%

-- Retail online sales up 9.2% with 86.7% collected in store

-- Autocentres sales growth continues, +7.4% with LfL sales up 2.1%

RETAIL

Conditions for the UK consumer remain difficult. Within this environment Halfords cycle sales have grown strongly, particularly in our premium brands; Boardman, Voodoo and Carrera, the latter benefiting from promotional activity in preparation for a new range launch in July. Our new Trax Bikes are successfully delivering our entry-level cycle strategy. Within Car Maintenance the growth in penetration of our fitting services continues, and in Car Enhancement we are growing market share. Product promotional activity has also proved popular and supported the delivery of gross profit.

As referenced at the Preliminary Results announcement, appropriate investments are being made in margin to maximise profits. This, together with the mix effect from the strong sales of lower margin premium and Trax ranges (notwithstanding that it is still early in the financial year), is anticipated to deliver a gross margin reduction of at least 100bps for the full year.

AUTOCENTRES

Despite the challenging environment for the garage sector, Halfords Autocentres' revenues have continued on a positive and improving trend since relaunch. Halfords brand is gaining traction in car servicing as we help motorists with quality service at affordable prices. We are investing further in marketing to drive even greater awareness.

CAPITAL RETURN AND DIVIDEND

The company remains in a sound financial position. To date we have purchased 8.4 million shares for GBP32.4 million at an average price of 385.9 pence per share through our share buyback programme that commenced on 7 April 2011. The final dividend of 14 pence per share will, subject to shareholder approval at the AGM on 2 August 2011, be paid on 5 August 2011.

340 firmly broken.

AGM Statement.