Group Highlights

Strategic Highlights

Halfords Mobile Expert Growth

A notable highlight this year was the demand for our Halfords Mobile Expert proposition, which remained high throughout the period, with record job numbers and sales over the summer as the benefits of convenience and safety resonated with customers. We continued to invest in our Mobile Expert proposition, increasing the scale and geographic reach of this service, and ended the year with 143 vans in our fleet.

Acquisition of The Universal Tyre Company

In March, we announced the acquisition of The Universal Tyre Company. Operating from 20 sites and 89 commercial vans in the South East of the UK, Universal specialises in tyre services, including the supply and fit of tyres for a wide range of vehicles, from cars to commercial and agricultural vehicles, as well as providing general car maintenance and repairs such as brakes, servicing and MOT. This acquisition takes us closer to our medium-term goal of having 550 garages and delivering our consumer services proposition from over 1,000 locations.

Biggest Ever Year of Group Services

It was a record year for our Group Services proposition, and against the backdrop of -25% fewer journeys, it is testament to our focus on this market. We launched several initiatives to boost customer awareness, including our 'Road Ready' campaign, our Group marketing campaign and our free 32-point bike check. We made booking our services easier than ever by enabling customers to book on our single Group website and we are the first national service provider to allow customers to book timed cycle service appointments or collections online. With heightened demand, we continued to increase our scale and capacity, making it easier and more convenient for customers to receive their services.

Refreshing ESG Strategy

Sustainability continues to be high on our agenda and during the year we conducted a refresh of our ESG strategy, recognising the need to fully integrate our commitments and actions with the corporate strategy. We aligned on four key areas of priority - Electrification, Net Zero Commitment, Diversity & Inclusion, and Product, Packaging and Waste Management – and developed a roadmap for delivering against these priorities in the short, medium, and long term. We have also set science-based targets and have engaged with the Science Based Target Initiative ("SBTi"), working towards formal accreditation.

Operational Highlights

Our Response to a Challenging Year

COVID-19 was demonstrably the most significant challenge faced by any retailer over the last year, but we have also faced Brexit, container shortages, port congestion and more recently, the blockage of the Suez Canal. Despite all of these external challenges, our operational agility has meant that our business has been able to perform well, keep our colleagues safe and offer products and services to our customers in order to help keep the UK moving.

Investing in Colleagues

Over the last year, our colleagues have shown their dedication to our business, going the extra mile to provide our customers with the products and services they needed to keep the UK moving. We have invested significantly to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of our colleagues and continue to prioritise colleague training – recognising the value of multi-skilled colleagues and providing more cross-Group career opportunities. This year, we also implemented a new operating model in our Retail stores, designed to significantly increase our scale and capability in motoring and cycling services.

Strong Growth in Tredz

Tredz, our Performance Cycling business, saw strong growth during the year, driven by the cycling market boom as the UK public took to bikes during lockdown, and capitalising on customer transfer from our closed Cycle Republic business. We identified very early in the pandemic the unprecedented levels of demand for cycling, enabling us to use our scale and relationships to secure stock from new and existing suppliers.

Review of our Physical Estate

Our focus on cost and efficiency has led us to conduct a full review of our physical estate, resulting in the closure of 80 stores and garages, which includes the exit of 22 Cycle Republic stores announced at the end of FY20. We are confident we will retain a large share of the customer base through trade transfer to neighbouring stores based on trials, experience through the pandemic and analysis of catchment areas.