Halfords stays on track after pick-up in bike sales

(Refiled to correct syntax in headline)

By James Davey

LONDON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - British car parts to bicycles retailer Halfords reported on Thursday a fall in sales of motoring products in the last three months but a recovery in cycling-related sales, leaving its full-year profit forecast intact.

In November Halfords had reported a near 6 percent drop in its first-half pretax profit, blaming a drop-off in bicycle sales over the summer.

The company said on Thursday that retail sales at stores open more than a year were flat in the 15 weeks to Jan. 15, its fiscal third quarter, in line with analysts' forecasts and an improvement on a second-quarter fall of 0.6 percent.

Like-for-like sales of motoring products, such as batteries, bulbs and wiper blades, fell 0.6 percent while cycling-related sales were up 1.1 percent.

At the company's smaller car repair unit Autocentres like-for-like sales increased 1.9 percent, a ninth straight quarter of underlying growth.

"We are pleased with the group's performance, given the unprecedented weather conditions," said Chief Executive Jill McDonald, who joined from McDonald's in May and updated on strategy in November.

Halfords said it expects to make a pretax profit in the current year of between 78 million and 82 million pounds ($110-116 million), down from 84.1 million pounds last year.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) maintained its retail gross margin forecast of a decline of 0.25 to 0.75 percentage points but cut its retail operating cost growth forecast to 1 to 2 percent from 2.5 to 3.5 percent previously.

The share price, down a quarter over the last three months, closed on Wednesday at 325 pence, valuing the business at 646 million pounds. ($1 = 0.7061 pounds) (Editing by Greg Mahlich)