Pets at Home has reported a 14% rise in pre-tax profits to £120.6mn, up from £105.7mn, crediting a strong performance in its veterinary division.
In its latest results, for the year ending 27 March, the pet care business reported its Vets business saw a 23% increase in pre-tax profits to £75.9mn, and a 13% rise in sales to £655mn.
In contrast, the retail sector experienced a 1.8% decrease in sales to £1.3bn and a 16% drop in profits to £72.9mn. The company linked this decline to a period of slow growth in the pet industry and a weak UK consumer environment.
The retailer has also recently re-platformed to build new capabilities around data, as well as its brand and marketing. It has simplified its distribution network to a single distribution centre fulfilling stores, online and subscriptions.
“The past two years have seen a profound transformation at Pets at Home. We have moved from a business with a strong presence in pet retail and vets, to a true pet care platform,” explained Lyssa McGowan, chief executive officer, Pets at Home.
“In FY25, we also saw another outstanding year of growth in our vets business, fuelled by the commitment and expertise of our partners, supported by our best-in-class scale services, platform benefits and industry knowhow. Our practices significantly outperformed a more subdued industry backdrop and delivered this progress despite the ongoing uncertainty of the CMA investigation – further demonstration of the power of our unique joint venture model.
“While FY26 comes with its own challenges as we digest externally imposed cost headwinds and heightened macro uncertainty, our objective is clear – to deliver outperformance against our underlying markets, across our business.”
Looking ahead, Pets at Home anticipates continued challenging market conditions and subdued consumer activity. It therefore forecasted a decrease in its group underlying pre-tax profit for the current year to between £115mn and £125mn.
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