Halfords - History

History

The company was founded by Frederick Rushbrooke in Birmingham in 1892 as a wholesale ironmongery. In 1902 Rushbrooke moved to a store on Halford Street in Leicester, for which street the company was named, and started selling cycling goods.

It opened its 200th store in 1931 and purchased the Birmingham Bicycle Company in 1945. In 1968 it opened its 300th store.

The Company became a part of Burmah Oil in 1969, following a takeover battle between Burmah Oil and Smiths Industries. During this time, a non-executive director of Halfords was Denis Thatcher, husband of Margaret Thatcher, later Prime Minister of the UK.

The Company was acquired by Ward White Group in 1983 and subsequently acquired by the Boots Group in 1991. It was then taken over by CVC Capital Partners in 2002 and in 2004 it was floated on the London Stock Exchange. On 11 July 2005 Halfords entered into a Collaboration Agreement with Autobacs Seven Co., a Japan based car accessory retailer with chains of stores all over the world and who is best known in other countries that do not have an Autobacs store for being the title sponsorship of Super GT and D1 Grand Prix. On 13 December 2005 Autobacs acquired 5% (11,400,000 shares) of the company at approximately ¥7.5 billion.

On 18 February 2010, the company announced a deal to purchase the Nationwide Autocentre MOT chain from the private equity firm Phoenix. The plan is to rebrand the centres under the Halfords name and open another 200, creating around 1,000 new jobs. On 24 May 2010, the first four Halfords Autocentres opened in Derby plus the one located near the head office in Solihull.