OUTLOOK Halfords seen reporting solid full-year sales

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Halfords Group Plc., the car parts and bicycle retailer, is expected to again illustrate its defensive qualities in a tough UK trading environment when it updates on full-year sales on Thursday.

For the year to March 31 2008 analysts at Citigroup are forecasting total sales growth from the 450-store group of 7.3 percent, with like-for-like sales up 4.7 percent and gross margin down 10 basis points.

For the second-half period they expect like-for-like sales growth of 2.5 percent, excluding Easter.

Analysts at UBS expect full-year total sales of 800 million pounds, up 7.5 percent, with like-for-like growth of 4 percent and gross margin flat. For the second half they also expect like-for-like sales growth of 2.5 pct.

"We view Halfords as a relatively defensive stock within the retail sector, mainly due to its 30 percent exposure to car maintenance products," they told clients.


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