Revenue at Halfords has remained flat year-on-year in the 26 weeks to 27 September, falling slightly to £864.8m.

Growth in the retail firm’s autocentres was offset by a drop in its retail division, with cycling sales remaining challenging.

Halfords’ profit before tax dropped by 1.4% in the same period, reaching £21m, while its gross margin increased by 160 bps to 49.4%.

It added that it had a "strong cash generation" with a free cash inflow of £28.1m, after recording an outflow of £19.2m in the previous financial year.

In this time, the firm was able to accelerate its fusion motoring services strategy, which aims to create a "closer relationship between retail and autocentres within a town."

Chief executive officer at Halfords, Graham Stapleton, said: "I am really pleased with the progress we have delivered in the first half. Against ongoing headwinds, we have continued to focus on controlling the controllables, with a disciplined approach to cost and margin optimisation.

"We are particularly excited by the outstanding results we are seeing from our fusion motoring services programme, which creates a stronger connection between our retail stores and autocentres in a town to fulfil all our customers’ motoring needs. Now live across 22 locations, these motoring services locations are delivering phenomenal returns with a significant uplift in both sales and profit. Given the strength of these results, we are now targeting 40 fusion sites this year."

Looking ahead, Halfords said it is "comfortable" with its full-year consensus following a "strong performance in H1, despite trading outlook is “uncertain following the recent UK budget".

However, it did add that the recent measures announced by the Chancellor in the Budget will add approximately £23m of direct labour costs, of which £9m was already mitigated into its 2026 financial year estimates.

Equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, Aarin Chiekrie, concluded: "Price-conscious customers continued to trade down to budget ranges, and a lack of big-ticket discretionary sales has weighed on performance. Halfords is leaning into cost cuts to help soften the impact on the profit line, with the group halfway towards its £30m savings target.

"The group’s confident that it can meet the market’s full-year forecasts, which are looking for underlying pre-tax profits of around £29m. With £21m already secured in the first half, this target now looks well within reach, especially as freight costs are expected to be at the lower end of previous guidance."

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