Halfords moves up a gear with revenues in excess of £1bn for first time

Car parts and bike retailer Halfords has mustered up sales in excess of £1bn (€1.36bn, $1.53bn) for the first time thanks to an increased product offering and a focus on better customer service.

The company hit its revenue target, which was up by 6.9% on 2014, a year earlier than expected whereas profit before tax was up by 11.4% to £81.1m.

It was new chief executive Jill McDonald's first results since she joined the company in May following the popular Matt Davies's departure.

Davies enjoyed a successful two and a half years at Halfords, where he implemented many of the sales strategies that has led it to the £1bn milestone before moving on to Tesco.

Chairman Dennis Millard paid his thanks to Davies in a statement: "I would ... like to thank both Matt Davies, who left at the end of April, and [finance chief] Andrew Findlay, who leaves later this year. It has been a real pleasure working with both of them – their contribution to Halfords has been outstanding."

Speaking of the company's performance, Millard added: "We are delighted to have exceeded £1bn of group revenue, a year ahead of plan, and are building a sustainable platform for future growth.

"There still remains much to do in both retail and autocentres and FY16 will be a particularly busy year of activity and investment as we continue to focus on driving the top-line and rolling out our Getting Into Gear strategy. I would like to warmly welcome Jill McDonald, our new CEO who started a few weeks ago, and who joins at an exciting time."