Company Announcements

7 November 2019                                                                         

Halfords Group plc 

Acquisition of McConechy's Tyre Service Limited

Strong strategic rationale; supports further growth
of the Halfords motoring services business

Halfords Group plc ("Halfords") today announces the acquisition of McConechy's Tyre Service Limited ("McConechy's"), one of the largest independent garage chains in the UK.

Key points:

·     The acquired business comprises of 60 sites and 100 vans across Scotland and the North of England, providing tyre fitting and vehicle servicing, maintenance and repair for both retail and commercial vehicles.

·     McConechy's employs over 330 skilled colleagues, providing in garage services alongside a 24-hour breakdown service for commercial customers. The McConechy's portfolio means that c.10m customers can reach a branch within a 25-minute drive time.

·     This is a highly complementary acquisition for Halfords, supporting the growth of our services proposition, providing customers with motoring services across garages, retail stores and mobile vans. The acquisition of McConechy's will increase the Halfords services footprint, now providing customers with access to over 900 service locations across the UK.

Graham Stapleton, Halfords Chief Executive, commented:

"We are very excited about today's acquisition and I am delighted to welcome McConechy's to the Halfords family.

"This acquisition is highly complementary to Halfords' service-led strategy, and the addition of McConechy's further strengthens our growing and unique motoring services offer, which includes Autocentres, Halfords Mobile Expert and our weFit services in our stores.

"The additional garages and vans increase our national presence and takes Halfords to within a 15-minute drivetime to over half of UK households. The vehicle servicing market is a £10bn market, but one which remains highly fragmented, offering significant scope for Halfords' trusted and recognised consumer brand to grow its market share considerably.

"I am extremely proud of how our Autocentres team has developed in the last few years, continually demonstrating their ability to evolve by implementing new processes, systems, and capability. This has transformed the financial performance of Autocentres and, by welcoming McConechy's and its highly skilled team to the Halfords Group, I am confident of continued success in the years ahead."

Advisers on the transaction included PwC for Halfords, while the shareholders of McConechy's were advised by a team from Grant Thornton Corporate Finance.

Enquiries

Investors & Analysts (Halfords)                                                                     

Loraine Woodhouse, Chief Financial Officer                                                     

Neil Ferris, Corporate Finance Director                                                 +44 (0) 7483 360675                                             

Media (Tulchan)                                                                                    +44 (0) 207 353 4200

   Jonathan Sibun

   Will Smith

Notes to Editors

www.halfords.com                              www.halfordscompany.com              www.halfordsautocentres.com     

www.cyclerepublic.com                     www.boardmanbikes.com                www.tredz.co.uk

Halfords is the UK's leading provider of motoring and cycling services and products. Customers shop at 448 Halfords stores, 26 Performance Cycling stores (trading as Cycle Republic, Tredz, Boardman and Giant), 377 garages (trading as Halfords Autocentres) and have access to 68 mobile service vans (trading as Halfords Mobile Expert). Customers can also shop at halfords.com, cyclerepublic.com and tredz.co.uk for pick up at their local store or direct home delivery, as well as booking garage services online at halfordsautocentres.com.

Cautionary Statement

This report contains certain forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations, and businesses of Halfords Group plc.  These statements and forecasts involve risk, uncertainty and assumptions because they relate to events and depend upon circumstances that will occur in the future.  There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made only as at the date of this announcement. Nothing in this announcement should be construed as a profit forecast.  Except as required by law, Halfords Group plc has no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or to correct any inaccuracies therein.