24th Nov 2015 08:24
LONDON (Alliance News) - Pet food, accessories and services retailer Pets at Home Group PLC on Tuesday said its pretax profit for the first half edged higher and it hiked its dividend as demand for its products and services remained robust.
Pets at Home said its pretax profit for the 28 weeks to October 8 was GBP40.9 million, up from GBP40.5 million a year earlier, held back by costs related to the refinancing exercise the group carried out in April. Stripping out that one-off cost, pretax profit for the company rose to GBP45.2 million from GBP40.5 million.
Revenue for the half grew 6.0% year-on-year to GBP404.5 million, with merchandise revenue rising 4.1%, food revenue up 7.1% and Advanced Nutrition sales rising 14%. Accessories revenue growth was more muted, only up 0.6% due to continued challenges to its health and hygiene product sales.
Services revenue rose 26%, with growth for its veterinary practices and its groom rooms and a good performance from Northwest Surgeons, its specialist referral hospital acquired at the start of the current financial year.
Like-for-like sales were up 1.8% in total, with 1.0% growth for its merchandise sales and 11% services growth.
The company will pay an interim dividend of 2.0 pence per share, up 11% year-on-year.
Pets at Home said it remains confident in the long-term outlook for the business and said its roll-out targets for the current financial year are on track.
Shares in Pets at Home were down 2.9% to 275.00p early Tuesday, one of the worst performers in the FTSE 250.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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