Animal magic for Pets at Home
MARKET leading retailer Pets at Home has hit its straps in the last 12 months, quietly delivering on its growth plan.
When it floated last year, investors’ tails weren’t exactly wagging as regional pure-plays such as AO World and Boohoo set pulses racing in the City. However, 12 months on and after profit warnings from both those others, Pets at Home has performed strongly.
In a trading update for the 52 weeks to March 26 the Handforth-based company said like-for-like sales had risen 4.2%, while total revenue, including new stores, was up 9.6% to £729.1m.
The group, which now has 400 stores nationwide and is a joint venture partner in a national veterinary business too, said it would meet City forecasts for underlying EBITDA to come in around £120m.
During the current financial year the company opened 25 new stores, opened 61 vet practices (of which 32 were retrofits), bringing the total portfolio to 338. It also opened 50 in-store Groom Rooms, of which 26 were retrofits, bringing the total portfolio to 179.
Chief executive Nick Wood said: “We are delighted to be delivering on expectations in our first year as a publicly listed company. We have seen strength across both merchandise and services, demonstrating the broad range of levers through which we will successfully deliver further profitable business growth.”
The company said its strong performance has been based on sales of advanced nutrition, health and hygiene and its VIP Club loyalty scheme, which in the fourth quarter alone added 270,000 members, taking the total to 3.2million.
