Halfords is to roll out a chain of cycle shops across the UK as it looks to capitalise on the recent explosion of interest in the sport.
The group, which has 11,000 staff in the UK and Ireland at 465 Halfords stores and 298 Autocentres, is reviving its Cycle Republic format in London and revealed today that it wants the brand in other towns and cities.
The move comes four years after standalone stores under the Bikehut and Cycle Republic names were ditched and returned to the core Halfords estate.
Halfords' sales in the cycling category were up 16% on a like-for-like basis in the six months to September 26, helping the group's underlying profits to improve by 10.8% to £49.4 million.
It has benefited from demand for bikes designed by former world champion Chris Boardman, as well as for Olympic champion Victoria Pendleton's best-selling UK women's bike range. Halfords' own brands have also done well, with every one in three bicycles sold an Apollo bike.
The bike business has also been boosted by favourable weather and interest in the Tour de France, which held its first three stages in Yorkshire and in London in front of mass crowds.
The retailer recently bought out the bike business of Mr Boardman, who has designed cycles for Halfords since 2007, for £14 million.
Like-for-like sales of car maintenance products and services grew by 3.7% in the first half, with about 980,000 bulbs, batteries and blades fitted in the period, an increase of 5.4% on the prior year.
Car enhancement sales fell by 1.4% on a like-for-like basis, but within this car cleaning grew by 13.1% following a number of promotional offers.
Halfords is in the middle of a three-year investment programme that will see it spend £100 million by the end of 2016 upgrading many of its Halfords stores and its Autocentres garages.
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