The growing popularity of dashboard cameras in cars has boosted business at retailing group Halfords, helping to make up for continuing weakness in the bicycle market since the boom that followed the London 2012 Olympics.
Halford’s motoring sales increased by 2.5% in the full year on a like-for-like basis, helped by rising demand for car cleaning products, in-car dash cams and travel equipment such as tents and roof boxes.
Dash cams have become more popular partly because of their usefulness in insurance claims. A company spokesman said: “In a car accident … there is no better evidence than a video recording.”
Halfords had also increasingly benefited from its We Fit service for fitting windscreen wiper blades, batteries and car bulbs.
There was a 1.3% increase in total retail revenues for the year, despite a 0.9% fall in cycling sales. But the bike business showed signs of picking up in the final two quarters of the year, helped by a new range of Boardman bikes.
Overall, full-year revenues for the group, including both retail and its Autocentres business, rose 1.5%. The company stuck to its forecast of annual profits of £78m to £82m, compared with £81.1m in 2015.
