Pets at Home boss hails ‘pivotal year’
PETS at Home has hailed a “pivotal year” where it continued to grow, listed on the stock market and also delivered a record results.
The Handforth-based company, already a member of the FTSE 250, will hope to set investors’ tails wagging after reporting a 12% hike in underlying EBITDA to £110.7m in the year to March 28.
After stripping out £10.6m worth of one of costs – £9.4m of which was related to the IPO in March – the retailer declared a trading profit before tax of £52.2m up from £40m in 2013
Total revenues grew by 11.2% to £665.4m with strong growth seen across all revenue categories; food, accessories and services. Like-for-like sales grew by 2.4% in the period.
During the year Pets at Home continued to grow not only in size but with new services.
It opened 32 new stores taking its total store portfolio to 377. After its acquisition in March 2013 of Vets4Pets the group is nowthe largest small animal veterinary services provider in the UK with 277 practices, reflective of 47 in-store and 22 standalone openings in the year.
The company said it is trialling a new upmarket high street concept, focused on dog care called Barkers. The first shop is in Wilmslow.
Chief executive Nick Wood said: “”It has been a pivotal year for Pets at Home. Our results demonstrate how we are building on our leading position in the UK pet care market, continuing to innovate and grow the business.
“I am excited with the progress made in our Vets Group, which through the acquisition of Vets4Pets and the opening of 69 new practices, has become the UK’s largest small animal veterinary services provider.
“We are focused on delivering the growth strategy we set out to shareholders at IPO. Whilst the lack of a sustained increase in consumer disposable incomes gives some caution to the outlook, I believe the potential of our retail and services businesses will enable us to deliver our strategy and achieve long-term returns.”
Chairman Tony DeNunzio added: “Looking ahead, our performance in 2014 has given us a solid platform to build upon. We remain confident in the business and anticipate a further year of growth for Pets At Home.”
