LONDON: Halfords Group plc has announced the acquisition of McConechy’s Tyre Service Limited, one of the largest independent garage chains in the UK.

The acquired business comprises of 60 sites and 100 vans across Scotland and the North of England, providing tyre fitting and vehicle servicing, maintenance and repair for both retail and commercial vehicles.

McConechy’s employs over 330 skilled colleagues, providing in garage services alongside a 24-hour breakdown service for commercial customers. The McConechy’s portfolio means that c.10m customers can reach a branch within a 25-minute drive time.

This is a highly complementary acquisition for Halfords, supporting the growth of services proposition, providing customers with motoring services across garages, retail stores and mobile vans. The acquisition of McConechy’s will increase the Halfords services footprint, now providing customers with access to over 900 service locations across the UK.

Graham Stapleton, Halfords Chief Executive, commented: “We are very excited about today’s acquisition and I am delighted to welcome McConechy’s to the Halfords family.

“This acquisition is highly complementary to Halfords’ service-led strategy, and the addition of McConechy’s further strengthens our growing and unique motoring services offer, which includes Autocentres, Halfords Mobile Expert and our weFit services in our stores.

“The additional garages and vans increase our national presence and takes Halfords to within a 15-minute drivetime to over half of UK households. The vehicle servicing market is a £10bn market, but one which remains highly fragmented, offering significant scope for Halfords’ trusted and recognised consumer brand to grow its market share considerably.

“I am extremely proud of how our Autocentres team has developed in the last few years, continually demonstrating their ability to evolve by implementing new processes, systems, and capability. This has transformed the financial performance of Autocentres and, by welcoming McConechy’s and its highly skilled team to the Halfords Group, I am confident of continued success in the years ahead.”

Advisers on the transaction included PwC for Halfords, while the shareholders of McConechy’s were advised by a team from Grant Thornton Corporate Finance.