Halfords has bought Nationwide Autocentres for £72.3 million in a deal that creates the UK’s largest car parts, servicing and repair group.
Halfords said today that the purchase of Nationwide, which services cars and carries out MoTs and repairs at its 224 outlets across the country, was a logical move.
Nationwide, which has been owned by Phoenix, the private equity group, since 2006, employs 900 mechanics and serves about 500,000 customers a year.
David Wild, the chief executive of Halfords, said that car maintenance was a large and highly attractive sector in which there was increasing demand from motorists.
The Nationwide business will be rebranded as Halfords Autocentres and the group said that it intended to open at least another 200 centres, creating more than 1,000 new jobs in the automotive industry.
Halfords added that it continued to trade in line with market expectations.
Andrew Wade, a retail analyst for Numis, said that the deal unlocked considerable growth potential, and was an excellent use of Halfords’ strong cash-generation and exactly the sort of acquisition that the business had talked about making.
Halfords, whose shares topped the FTSE 250 this morning, up 28.9p at 420.6p, has also recently been linked with potential bids for Blacks Leisure, the outdoor retailer, and Hobbycraft, which is privately owned.
Source : The Times
