Pets at Home CEO buys £100k of shares at end of tough week
Pets at Home CEO Lyssa McGowan has purchased almost £100,000 worth of shares in the pet retail giant.
This week she purchased 42,294 shares at £2.36 per share amounting to a £99,998.66 investment in the business.
On Tuesday, this week, in the commentary around a decent set of half year results she was brutally honest about a “subdued market”.
By Wednesday Pets was the worst performer among mid-cap stocks on the market, dropping down 12% at 243.40p, making the company the biggest loser in the FTSE 250 index in London on Wednesday morning.
It’s not enough to report a 47% year-on-year rise in pre-tax profits to £51.1 million from £34.7 million on a revenue lift of £789.1m from £774.2m last year.
Pets at Home stopped short of a profit warning, but admitted that “modest” year-on-year growth warranted “revising earlier guidance”. It certainly won’t be as much as the £144 million, anticipated in August, a 9.1% increase.
To quote her outlook in full, McGowan said: “The first half of financial 2025 was characterised by a subdued market, against which we outperformed. The bulk of our investments and peak operational risk are behind us and our market leadership and well invested platform underpin our confidence in continued outperformance.”
The market will like her putting her own money in at this stage. But none of this will serve to dampen speculation about a private equity raid in the near future.
