Record trading puts pets group on track to deliver targets
Pets at Home, the Cheshire animal care group, is on track to deliver results in line with market consensus, it said following a trading update today.
The Handforth group revealed details of the 12 week period to January 3, 2020, which showed a 7.9% increase in total group revenues to £255.9m.
Retail revenues were up 7.2%, with omnichannel revenue up 23.4%.
Vet Group revenue climbed 14.4%. First opinion customer sales across all vet practices grew 8.6%, with mature practices growing ahead of the market.
Group like-for-like revenue growth reached 7.2%.
Retail like-for-like revenue growth was seven per cent, or 12% on a two-year basis
Vet Group like-for-like revenue growth rose by 8.9%, with like-for-like joint venture fee income up 5.6%, reflecting the impact of planned adjustments made to fee arrangements for ongoing joint venture practices.
Today’s update said the group is on track with its plans for financial year 2020, while financial guidance remains unchanged. Expectations for group underlying profit before tax, before the impact of IFRS164, remain in line with the current market consensus.
The business said guidance reflects the full-year impact of joint venture fee adjustments, certain pre-openings costs relating to the specialist referral division, and ongoing investment in new customer acquisition.
Among strategic highlights during the quarter, the UK pet care market remains resilient and Pets At Home continues to take share across both the retail and vet segments, underlining the strength of its complete pet care strategy.
Ongoing investment in the pet care ecosystem is generating continued momentum across key indicators: The number of VIP members who purchased products and a service has grown 24% year-on-year; the number of subscription customers across the group is now more than 850,000; the business is attracting and retaining even more of the UK’s pet lovers, building long-term relationships with more than 5.3 million VIP members; a record-breaking performance in retail was achieved, including the biggest ever online and offline trading days and grooming 6,023 dogs in a single day; while the group also launched a further nine new format pet care centres during the quarter.
In the Vet Group, underlying performance of joint venture first opinion practices across a range of financial metrics continues to improve, while the expansion plans at both Dick White Referrals and the new specialist referral centre in Scotland remain on track.
Chief executive, Peter Pritchard, said: “Our sales performance in the quarter proves once again that by offering convenient and affordable pet care to customers, we can further strengthen our market leading position.
“Against a backdrop of unprecedented consumer volatility, our continued momentum leaves us very much on track with our plans for the year.”
