Halfords shares surge after Britons advised to cycle to work
Halfords shares surged after Britons were advised to cycle to work.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps urged people to carry on working from home but said anyone who does have to commute should try to walk and cycle.
The Government is thought to be planning a £250m investment into cycling lanes and mulling trials for electric scooters, which are banned on roads and pavements.
A good sign: Halfords is the UK’s biggest bike retailer with 450 repair centres and about a quarter of the UK market share
Halfords is the UK’s biggest bike retailer with 450 repair centres and about a quarter of the UK market share. It is also one of the biggest sellers of e-scooters.
Peel Hunt analysts said: ‘Saturday’s evangelical Department for Transport speech could have been written by Halfords’ chief executive, with its very helpful remarks on cycling and e-scooters.’
Yesterday, Halfords encouraged the 7m Britons who are estimated to have bikes sitting unused in sheds and garages to start cycling again – offering free checks on old bikes to help people prepare for a post-lockdown commute.
At the moment, Halfords estimates only 4 per cent of commutes are carried out on bikes.
Even when trains and buses begin running a normal service again, social distancing rules mean they might only be able to carry about 10 per cent of passengers compared with pre-coronavirus levels.
In March, Halfords said it was braced for sales to fall 25 per cent in its 2020-2021 financial year and suspended its dividend.
Shares jumped 24.3 per cent, or 36.8p, to 188.2p.