A return to growth in cycle sales over Christmas has helped Halfords to get revenues back on track after a patchy summer.

In the 15 weeks to January 15th, Halfords saw like-for-like sales rise 0.3%, boosted by a 1.1% jump in cycle sales. As a result, Halfords said that its expectations for the year remained unchanged.
Jill McDonald, chief executive, commented: "We are pleased with the Group's performance, given the unprecedented weather conditions. Particularly pleasing was the strong growth in service-related sales and a return to LFL growth in Cycling.

"We achieved a record day online over the Black Friday weekend, our highest ever day for total sales on 23rd December and further improvements in customer service metrics. In Autocentres we achieved a 9th consecutive quarter of LFL growth. I would like to thank our colleagues for all their hard work over the busy Christmas period."