Halfords Group is looking to its new national distribution centre to produce annual cost savings of £4 million a year, it said in its interim management statement.
Operations started at the NDC in the first quarter and are expected to come fully on stream in September.
The bicycle and car parts retailer took the 320,000 sq ft purpose-built distribution centre at Keresley Park, Coventry as part of its reorganisation plans for the distribution network.
The reconfiguration is expected to deliver annualised cost savings of more than £4m, including rent savings, transport reductions and labour efficiencies. The final element of Halfords’ revised logistics configuration will be a single warehouse, in Redditch, dedicated to cycles.
In the interim statement covering the period to 26th July, the group said it experienced a sluggish start to the spring season reflecting poor weather in April and consumer nervousness ahead of the general election and emergency budget.
Delivery disruption from South East Asia created “some supply chain challenges”, it said. “Sales growth continued in our core categories of car maintenance and cycling, with each delivering low single digit like-for-like growth.”
“Our strategic investment within multi channel, delivered a further strong performance, with total on-line revenues up 70 per cent year-on-year.”
