Pets at Home chief to seek new challenge
MATT Davies, who led retailer Pets at Home through its £955m sale to KKR last year, is planning to leave the business.
The 40-year-old, who has spent a decade at the Handforth company, initially as finance director, and for the last eight years as chief executive, told TheBusinessDesk.com he feels now is the right time for a new challenge.
When he joined the business Pets at Home had sales of less than £200m, this year turnover will be around £550m.
Although proud of such growth he said he is most proud of Pets At Homes’ industry-leading staff turnover figure of 18%, and the outstanding customer service which its people provide “9.8 times out of 10.”
Davies, who previously worked in the Manchester office of investment bank NM Rothschild, said he had decided to leave the business at the beginning of this year.
“I spoke to the chairman and to KKR at the beginning of the year and we decided to wait until later in the year to launch an internal and external selection process.
“Private equity-owned businesses are governed by cycles and I feel now is the right time in the current cycle to leave as it allow a new CEO time to bed into the business.
“I wouldn’t say Pets at Home is yet a maturing business – there’s still a huge opportunity for it to grow and double in size.”
He said he does not regard himself as an entrepreneur, and that he had been “extremely lucky” to inherit Pets at Home from its founder Anthony Preston.
“I would say the chances of me going out and starting something from scratch are around zero. Whatever I do next will have to stand up to the Pets at Home test- and those opportunities will be few and far between.”
Davies said his family would remain in the North West, though he would be willing to travel further afield for the right opportunity: “Sometimes it can take longer to drive to the office than it does to get to London by train, so that wouldn’t really be an issue.”
In the 53 weeks ending March 31 Pets at Home reported a 10.3% rise in EBITDA to £93m, driven by a 10.7% rise in revenue to £517.8m.
Commenting on Davies’ planned departure, chairman Tony DeNunzio, said:
“KKR and I would like to thank Matt for his contribution to the company over
the past 10 years.
“Matt has helped build an excellent business, with a verystrong management team and an exciting growth strategy. He has been a pleasure to work with.”
