Halfords PLC sales slow as omicron hits bike demand

Halfords Group PLC (LSE:HFD) saw a drop off in trading towards the end of 2021 due to the Omicron variant of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and supply disruptions.

Bike sales tumbled almost 24% in the 13 weeks to the end of December compared to a year ago, due to lower footfall and reduced kids bike sales, although demand for e-bikes doubled.

Motor products sales were affected by a reduction in the volume of traffic in December following the reintroduction of working restrictions due to the new COVID-19 variant. Revenues rose 7.5% over the 2021 comparison but were 1.5% down on the pre-COVID-19 period.

“We anticipated a softer motoring performance relative to H1 driven by our pricing investments and lower staycation sales, but Omicron and the resulting -15% fall in traffic during December contributed to weaker demand and corresponding drop in performance,” said the statement.

Autocentres was the bright spot as changes to the MOT timetable pushed peak demand into this quarter, with sales rising by 90% including the National acquisition.

Helped by autocentres, sales over the period rose by 2.7% in total and Halfords said it continues to target underlying profit this year of between £80mln to £90mln.

“The Omicron impact seen in December shows that the challenges associated with COVID-19 are still present. Our guidance assumes that the impacts of Omicron continue to diminish and that we do not experience further variants of similar severity. “