Halfords do well at Xmas…but Shimanos sales drop

Sales in the six weeks to January 8 at its Boots the Chemists chain were up 2.6 percent against the previous year on a like-for-like basis. The growth was mostly fuelled by improving cosmetic sales but there was also a 10.5 percent like-for-like rise in bike sales through Halfords.

But not every company in the bike trade has been quite so bouyant. Shimano Group sales and profit dropped 9 percent, down on projections. Many analysts consider Shimano to be a bike trade barometer because it is specced by just about everybody.