Summer of success on the bike boosts Halfords sales

Shares in Halfords put on an Olympic growth spurt yesterday after the cyclist Bradley Wiggins' Tour de France and Team GB success drove a spike in sales of bicycles, and investors toasted its choice of a new chief executive.

Sales of Halfords' bikes, developed by gold medalists Victoria Pendleton and Chris Boardman, hero of the 1992 Games, were particularly strong and were also helped by life-sized models of the female Olympian in its stores.

The bikes-to-car-maintenance group has unveiled Matt Davies as its new chief executive following the exit of David Wild in the summer.

Mr Davies left Pets at Home in April after eight years, during which the pets accessories retailer was sold to the private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in a deal worth nearly £1bn in January 2010.

The hiring, and the fact Halfords posted a 5.6 per cent rise in group underlying sales in its second quarter to 28 September – the first increase for 18 months – sent the shares soaring by 37.5p, to 303.5p.

Cycling was the standout performer, with sales up 14.7 per cent. This followed a 9.6 per cent fall in the previous three months when bike sales were hammered by the dire early summer weather.

Halfords' cycling business also benefited from Wiggins winning the Tour de France and Olympic events. Chairman, Dennis Millard, said: "We were supporting the Olympics. We had life-size models of Victoria Pendleton in all our stores and we traded the Boardman brand very hard."

Halfords Autocentres, which provide MOT and car servicing, saw a 12.4 per cent rise in second quarter sales, compared to a 9.2 per cent increase in the first three months.

This was the strongest like-for-like performance since the chain was acquired in February 2010, the group said, and was driven by better-than-expected take-up of its tyre services.

Halfords expects its full-year profits will be at the upper end of City forecasts of £62m to £70m, although this will still be below last year's £92.2m.