Halfords Says Won't Use M&A To Re-Enter Overseas Markets

10th Jun 2010 08:02

By Hannah Benjamin Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--U.K. automotive and leisure products retailer Halfords Group PLC (HFD.LN) Thursday said it won't use acquisitions as a way of re-entering Europe and other overseas markets, and its focus is very much on domestic opportunities. "We're not taking our international plans off the stove totally but it's very much on the back-burner," Chief Executive David Wild told journalists on a conference call Thursday. "I wouldn't expect anything to happen overseas for some time," he said. Halfords earlier Thursday said it plans to harness cash to make more acquisitions and add to its first significant acquisition of the Nationwide Autocentres chain, which this week began to be rebranded as Halfords Autocentres. But any deals it seals will be of quality business in the U.K. which are in markets adjacent to automotive, Wild said. Halfords said it closed its seven Central European stores after it found there was limited availability of suitable properties to move the operation to a viable scale in the medium term. -By Hannah Benjamin, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9298; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 10, 2010 03:02 ET (07:02 GMT)