Halfords eyes more acquisitions as profit surges
HALFORDS is targeting more acquisitions with a hit list of up to a dozen targets.
The company said it was hungry for expansion as it posted a 27 per cent jump in annual profit.
Halfords, which in February bought British car servicing firm Nationwide Autocentres for £73m, made a pre-tax profit of £117m for the year to April 2 – up from £92.4m in 2008-09.
Revenue increased by 4.6 per cent to £832m, with sales at stores open over a year up 0.7 per cent.
Chief executive David Wild said: “We normally keep a list of about ten or a dozen targets. Since we drew the list up 15-16 months ago some of them have been sold, others the owners don’t want to sell.
“So we just keep a very open mind and review our opportunities against the strategy.”
Wild said he was confident the company would grow earnings in 2010-11 despite the current state of the wider British economy.