Keeping the UK Moving During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic required a very agile response from all decision-makers in the business and you can read more about what we have done in the overview section of this Annual Report. The Board demonstrated flexibility and commitment to engage with the management team throughout the year but particularly in the first few months of the crisis when uncertainty was at its highest. The key priorities for the Board were to protect the health and safety of our colleagues and customers and to ensure the sustainability of the business in the long-term.

Strategy

The Board continues to oversee and support the transformation and development of the strategic vision for the Group. Necessitated by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Board engaged with the management team to adapt our strategic execution for FY21, shifting the emphasis to cost efficiencies, cash management and supporting our colleagues. The Board was further engaged in refreshing the existing strategy, taking into account post-pandemic trends and the interests of different stakeholders.

Purpose and Culture

In FY21, Halfords has made strong progress on the cultural journey. We saw the successful roll-out of our new colleague values and behaviours which follows on from the culture review undertaken in FY20. The Board continues to recognise the importance of ensuring that Halfords has a strong culture and continues to support the work being done towards becoming One Halfords Family.

As part of the roll-out we have seen colleagues take part in leader-led workshops to introduce them to the refreshed values. This has been followed up by a number of initiatives to fully embed the values in the organisation. The Board is proud to note that in the Company's most recent Colleague Engagement Survey, 91% of colleagues confirmed that they "know what Halfords values are".

Read our Corporate Governance Report.

Engaging with the Workforce

The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw the temporary closure of a number of our stores, resulted in a different approach to engagement, where we focused on remote engagement and colleague wellbeing.

Read more on Our Response to COVID-19.

2020 Annual General Meeting ("AGM")

In 2020, to ensure the appropriate AGM arrangements were put in place, the Board closely monitored the evolving COVID-19 pandemic together with the UK Government's guidance on social distancing and public gatherings. In light of this, in September 2020, we made an announcement to the London Stock Exchange to update shareholders on changes required to the 2020 AGM arrangements which highlighted the importance we place on the health and wellbeing of our colleagues, shareholders and the wider community.