Halfords said trading was stronger than it had expected as its Autocentre garage business registered strong demand.
The vehicle maintenance and bike seller said annual pretax profit would be between £90m and £100m after business was better than expected in the first seven weeks of its final quarter.
Halfords said it would repay all the £10.7m of furlough money from the government and that its profit guidance took account of the repayment.
In the seven weeks to 19 February group like-for-like revenue rose 6.2%. Income rose 5.1% at the retail business and 14.3% at Autocentres.
“Although we have continued to experience a volatile trading environment across the first seven weeks of Q4, overall trading has been stronger than we initially anticipated across the business,” Halfords said.
