Halfords may raise garage prices for drivers to cover £23m cost hit from Budget

The car parts-to-bicycle concatenation said the outgo implications of adjacent April's emergence successful nationalist security contributions and the minimum wage summation were 'particularly acute'

Halfords has said it whitethorn person to summation repair store prices, informing that Budget measures volition origin its wage measure to soar by astir £23m.

The institution highlighted the "particularly acute" outgo implications of adjacent April’s emergence successful nationalist security contributions (NICs) and the minimum wage increase, fixed its workforce of implicit 12,000. It besides stated that the interaction of Budget measures connected consumers was "unclear".

Halfords revealed that lone astir £9m of the further outgo load was already factored into its plans for 2025-26 and mitigated. It suggested it mightiness "pass through" the higher wage costs to customers crossed its Autocentres division.

The radical admitted: "It volition inevitably beryllium challenging to afloat mitigate a single-year outgo summation of this magnitude, peculiarly successful the retail concern wherever galore of our merchandise categories are discretionary and/or large summons and important outgo has already been removed successful caller years."

"We expect being capable to walk done wage ostentation much easy successful the Autocentres business, wherever a greater proportionality of gross relates to services."

Halfords is urging the Government to see revamping the Apprenticeship Levy to assistance cushion the blow. Half-year results released connected Tuesday showed the car parts-to-bicycle chain’s pre-tax profits plunged 23.3% to £17.8m successful the six months to September 27 arsenic revenues dipped 0.1%, with tougher retail trading counterbalancing maturation successful its Autocentres division.

Profits astatine Halfords person dipped by 1.4% to £21m and the CEO Graham Stapleton commented connected the caller UK Budget's impact, saying: "The outgo implications from the caller UK Budget are peculiarly acute for a specializer retailer that provides adept proposal and assistance to customers, look to face."

“While we volition enactment hard to mitigate these costs, we impulse the Government to see alternate ways of supporting businesses similar ours, including the acceleration of Apprenticeship Levy reform, which would assistance america to upskill existing colleagues and offset immoderate of the caller headwinds.”

It besides faces accrued costs successful the 2nd fractional linked to shipping and impermanent store closures for upgrades related to its caller Fusion Motoring Services concept.