Bad weather, as well as” political and economic uncertainty”, has hit Halfords’ sales, the firm said today.
The chain, which sells things like bikes and car parts, said customer spending on a like-for-like basis had fallen by 3.2% in the 20 weeks to the middle of August.
Russ Mould said: “Halfords is going from bad to worse with yet another profit warning. The company is blaming the weather and weaker consumer backdrop but if you read the reviews of Halfords online it would seem the retailer has a big problem with in-store stock availability, staff who aren’t very helpful to customers and delays with online orders reaching stores for collection.
“Halfords used to be the go-to place for car parts and bikes but customers who have a bad experience will simply vote with their feet and go elsewhere. Is the company now paying the price with its falling sales?
“If the company wants to pin its fortunes on being a service-led business it seems there is a lot more work to be done to improve standards.
“For now, it sits among the group of struggling retailers battling a decline in revenue and profit.
“Interestingly its share price went up on the latest trading update. One could argue that the share price has already been beaten up and so expectations were already low. But that could be a dead cat bounce unless the company’s eternal optimism can actually feed through into higher earnings.”
Leave a Comment