Halfords: Departing CEO gets golden goodbye
The departing chief executive of Halfords saw his pay more than double as the company clocked a statutory £30m loss in the year before he stepped down.
Graham Stapleton took home a pay packet of £1.5m for the firm’s latest financial year, up from the £650,440 he received in the prior 12 months.
Stapleton had taken home £1.2m in the year before that.
The rise in his remuneration was as a result of bonus and performance share plan arrangements.
In April, Redditch-headquartered Halfords announced that Stapleton would step down as CEO after more than seven years, to be succeeded by former Very Group boss, Henry Birch.
In June, Halfords declared a pre-tax loss of £30m in the year to March 28, 2025, after having made a pre-tax profit of £38.8m in the prior 12 months.
However, over the same period, its revenue increased from £1.69bn to £1.71bn.
Alongside its annual results, Halfords announced in June that it is planning to close some of its garages as it struggles with increased labour costs introduced by last year’s Autumn Budget.
The company said the sites earmarked for disposal are not able to provide the “level of customer experience to which we aspire”.
The Autumn Budget, which included increases to National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and the National Minimum Wage, added £33m to Halford’s costs.
Halfords’ rollercoaster share price
In a statement issued to the London Stock Exchange in June, Halfords’ new CEO Henry Birch said:
“I am very pleased to be announcing a positive set of results for Halfords. The business has delivered a strong financial performance, made good strategic progress and has a clear plan in place to tackle external inflationary forces.
“Halfords has a unique combination of retail stores, garages and mobile vans, a trusted brand, scaled omnichannel infrastructure, and access to valuable proprietary data.
“It is an exciting time to be joining and I see significant potential to optimise and grow this fantastic business.”
Halfords’ share price started 2025 at 131.6p and dropped to a low of 116.2p in April before surging to a high of 174.6p in June.
However, the company’s share price ticked down in the aftermath of its annual results being published, falling to 143p.
Shares in Halfords are currently changing hands for around 150p.