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Christmas sales boost drives up Halfords shares | |
(about 3 hours later) | |
Shares in Halfords jumped after the bike and car parts retailer reported a "strong sales performance" for the crucial Christmas period. | |
The FTSE 250 firm said like-for-like sales rose 5.9% in the three months to 15 January, sending its shares up 8.7%. | |
Halfords also said it had paid £8m for a minority stake in mobile tyre-fitting business TyresOnTheDrive.com. | |
On the wider market, the benchmark FTSE 100 index was down 37.49 points at 7,210.12 shortly after midday. | |
Royal Mail was the biggest faller on the index after it delivered a disappointing trading update. | |
Shares in the company dropped 5% to 426.70p after it reported a fall in the number of letters delivered. | |
In the nine months to 25 December, the volume of letters delivered fell 6% while letter revenues were down 5%. | In the nine months to 25 December, the volume of letters delivered fell 6% while letter revenues were down 5%. |
"We are seeing the impact of overall business uncertainty in the UK on letter volumes, in particular advertising and business letters." | |
However, its parcels business saw revenues rise by 3% with the number of parcels delivered 2% higher. | However, its parcels business saw revenues rise by 3% with the number of parcels delivered 2% higher. |
Back in the FTSE 250, shares in Moneysupermarket.com rose 5.5% after it said full-year results were set to beat expectations, with operating profits up 8%. | |
However, the news from Pets at Home was not so encouraging. Its shares fell 8% after it reported "subdued trading" at its merchandise division, with like-for-like sales at the unit down 0.5%. | |
On the currency markets, the pound rose 0.5% against the dollar to $1.2323 and was 0.2% higher against the euro at 1.1558 euros. | |