Halfords, Redrow and Berkeley

“Stocks were mixed in early trading – blue-chips down slightly and the FTSE 250 up slightly -  with investors looking to UK and Eurozone retail sales data out later this morning,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

Halfords is basking in the golden glow of Team GB’s Olympic success with cycling sales up by 11%. This followed strong promotional activity around ‘Halfords' Olympic cycling heroes’,  new ranges, Cycle Republic store openings and the addition of Tredz, which has continued to perform well since its acquisition. Motoring sales were robust, driven by car and motorcycle parts, roof boxes and child seats. Halfords is maintaining its full year guidance.

Housebuilders Redrow and Berkeley have allayed fears of a Brexit vote slowdown posting record results and reiterating guidance respectively.

Redrow reported record results for the third year in a row and has seen sales in the first 10 weeks of its current financial year up 8% against strong comparatives. Redrow has launched a number of significant new sites and has a strong pipeline in the planning process.

Berkeley is heavily skewed to the London market which has been ‘soft’ but the group has reiterated its guidance of £2bn of pre-tax profits in the three years to the end of April 2018.  Berkeley noted a hiatus either side of the EU referendum but the market in August, traditionally a quiet month, returned to the relative levels reported for the first five months of the year. Pricing has remained resilient and above business plan levels with reservation cancellation rates at normal levels, following a temporary increase after the referendum result.

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