BUZZ-Halfords: at 2-yr lows as weak bike sales hit profits

** Halford's shares down 8.9 pct at levels not seen since Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 2013, after saying H1 pretax profit falls nearly 6 pct, expects flat 2017 profit

** Blames summer slump in sales of bicycles; wet weather and greater discounting in market put people off buying bikes

** H1 PBT -5.9% at £46.4 mln v cons flagged by Investec (LSE: INVP.L - news) of £47.1 mln and broker's own est of £47.7 mln; cuts PT to 510p from 580p but keeps "buy" rating

** Broker says cash generation of the business is likely to underpin valuation; notes mgmt will come back with a debt target at the FY results in June, increasingly likely that mgmt could return surplus cash to shareholders in FY17

** Co's shares near the bottom of the FTSE midcap index , poised for worst day since May 2013 (venkateshasoumithri.mamidipudi.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)