Halfords chief buys stake

Halfords boss David Wild has spent £137,000 on shares in the bike and car parts retailer less than a week after slightly better than expected full-year profits.

Wild bought 40,000 shares at 343p each, just a few pennies off the 52-week high of 346p. They were down near 200p last October.

Profit before tax and exceptional items for the 52 weeks to 27 March rose to £92.4m from £90.2m the year before. Analysts had predicted £91.5m.

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A 0.3% drop in revenue to £794.7m still beat the £790m forecast. Like-for-like sales fell 3.3%.

The car maintenance business delivered strong like-for-like sales growth, allowing the group to continue to grow its market share, while the cycling arm benefited from range development and government initiatives.

Halfords recommended a final dividend of 10.9p a share, making a total of 15.9p for the year, up 5%.

Top Director Buys

Value: € 1,046,250

Value: € 202,000

Value: £137,200

Value: £21,000

Value: £20,000

Top Director Sells

Value: £627,402