What pandemic? Halfords revs up profits to £96.3million as demand for electric scooters and bikes soars to 94% while Dr Martens kicks off a good year with sales up to £773million
- Dr Martens sales in the last 12 months to March 31 jumped 15% to £773million
- Halfords reported underlying pre-tax profits of £96.3million – 72% jump
- The majority of Dr Martens’ global growth came from online sales
Halfords’s profits have soared to £96.3million as the demand for electric scooters and bikes skyrocketed to 94 per cent and Dr Martens has seen booming sales up to £773million despite the pandemic.
Dr Martens sales in the last 12 months to March 31 jumped 15 per cent to £773million, the company revealed.
And cycling and motoring specialist Halfords reported underlying pre-tax profits of £96.3million for the year to April 2, up from £55.9million on a pro forma 52-week basis.
Dr Martens’s pre-tax profits took a heavy hit – down 30 per cent to £70.9million – due to costs of £80.5million associated with the retailer’s stock market listing in January.
Cycling and motoring specialist Halfords reported underlying pre-tax profits of £96.3million for the year to April 2, up from £55.9million on a pro forma 52-week basis
The majority of the initial public offering (IPO) costs were due to a £49.1million bonus paid out to staff.
Dr Martens did not give figures for each country in which it trades, but said sales in Europe rose 17 per cent, with the same levels of growth in North and South America.
The majority of Dr Martens’ global growth came from online sales, where revenues from its website were up 73 per cent- meaning its e-commerce business now accounts for 30 per cent of all sales.
By comparison, sales in physical stores were down 40 per cent to £99.7 million.
In the UK, the company shut down three stores, leaving 34 in total, but said trading was strong enough to be able to pay back £1.3 million claimed under the Government’s furlough scheme.
Retail sales for Halford jumped 14.6 per cent on a like-for-like basis – helped by a 54 per cent surge for bikes – while its Autocentres car servicing and repair chain enjoyed a 9.7 per cent hike.
Dr Martens sales in the last 12 months to March 31 jumped 15 per cent to £773million, the company revealed
Dr Martens did not give figures for each country in which it trades, but said sales in Europe rose 17 per cent, with the same levels of growth in North and South America
Halfords saw surging demand for electric scooters and bikes, with sales in this category almost doubling – up 94 per cent.
The group is investing heavily in the area of electric vehicles and will have trained more than 2,000 of its store and garage staff to service electric cars, bikes and scooters by the end of its new financial year.
Halfords said it is ‘positive’ over the outlook as it expects restrictions on foreign travel to boost staycation goods sales, such as touring and cycling products, while it sees motoring product demand benefiting from more normal traffic patterns.
It sees statutory profits rising to more than £75million in 2021-22, up from £64.5million in the year to April 2.
But Halfords warned of ‘acute’ ongoing supply issues with bikes, which have been affected by demand, Brexit trade concerns and the blockage of the Suez Canal earlier this year.
Halfords saw surging demand for electric scooters and bikes, with sales in this category almost doubling – up 94 per cent
It said: ‘The general economic outlook remains challenging, with consumers likely to be more cautious and expecting greater value from their purchases.
‘We will address this by making a significant investment in pricing in our retail motoring business.’
Sales in the first nine weeks of the new financial year have remained solid – up 6.6 per cent for retail motoring, 42 per cent for cycling and 6.6 per cent across its Autocentres against pre-pandemic levels two years ago.
Chief executive Graham Stapleton said: ‘Demand for our services remains strong in the new financial year, and our touring categories are currently performing particularly well given the trend towards staycations this summer.
‘In the longer term, we remain confident in the future prospects for the UK’s motoring and cycling markets and our ability to compete strongly in both.’
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