LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) - Shares in British bicycles and
car parts retailer Halfords soared as much as 24% on Monday,
boosted by the government's announcement that people should
consider cycling to work when the coronavirus lockdown is eased.
Transport minister Grant Shapps said on Saturday that even
with public transport reverting to a full service, once social
distancing rules were taken into account there would only be
effective capacity for one in 10 passengers in many parts of the
UK transport network, just a tenth of the old capacity.
He urged people to continue to work from home where
possible, but said those who did have to commute to work should
consider cycling or walking, rather than taking to their cars.
Shapps also said E-scooter trials would be brought forward,
with the potential for rental vehicles on UK roads as early as
June.
Halfords is Britain's biggest cycling retailer with 450
repair centres, and is also market leader in E-scooters.
"Saturday’s evangelical Department of Transport speech could
have been written by Halfords’ CEO, with its very helpful
remarks on cycling and E-scooters," said analysts at Peel Hunt.
"We have generally been loath to forecast V-shaped
post-Covid recoveries but this might be different. Our new
numbers today reflect a very strong bounce-back in sales and
EBITDA, (core earnings)," they added.
On Monday Halfords launched a campaign aimed at the seven
million British adults who have bicycles languishing in sheds
and garages. It said it will provide a free "32-point" check on
neglected bikes to help people get ready for the post lockdown
commute.
The stock was up 36.4 pence at 187.2 pence at 0738 GMT,
paring year-on-year losses to 24%.
(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young)