UK retailer Halfords posts lower annual profit

(Reuters) -British bicycle and car products retailer Halfords Group reported a fall in annual profit on Thursday as footfall across its stores declined due to challenging market conditions and wet weather.

The prolonged cost-of-living crisis has forced Britons to cut spending on discretionary spending, particularly big-ticket purchases like electric bikes and satellite navigation systems.

“Elevated cost inflation continued to be a significant headwind, increasing the cost base by approximately 37 million pounds in fiscal 2024,” the company said in a statement.

In February, Halfords said it was seeing “very challenging and exceptional short-term market conditions” and was cautious about a recovery.

Underlying pre-tax profit from total operations came in at 36.1 million pounds ($45.62 million) for the year ended March 29, compared with 44.2 million pounds it logged in the previous year.

Analysts on average were expecting the firm to clock a profit of about 36.2 million pounds, according to a company-compiled consensus.

($1 = 0.7913 pounds)

(Reporting by Echha Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)