28th May 2025 09:53
(Alliance News) - Pets At Home Group PLC on Wednesday reported increased profit for the 2025 financial year, despite flat revenue, as the retailer noted a "profound transformation" in the company.
The Cheshire, England-based pet care firm reported pretax profit of GBP120.6 million in the financial year that ended March 27, up 14% from GBP105.7 million the year before.
Revenue edged up 0.1% to GBP1.482 billion from GBP1.480 billion, while selling and distribution expenses were reduced by 2.7% to GBP451.2 million from GBP463.6 million.
Basic earnings per share rose 14% to 19.0 pence from 16.6 pence.
Pets At Home declared an unchanged final dividend of 8.3 pence. The total dividend for the year was up 1.6% to 13.0p from 12.8p in financial 2024.
The company said its performance was hurt by a subdued UK consumer backdrop, a deflationary environment, and the "normalisation of new pet ownership" following a boom during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"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," said Chief Executive Officer Lyssa McGowan.
"Our practices significantly outperformed a more subdued industry backdrop and delivered this progress despite the ongoing uncertainty of the [Competition & Markets Authority] investigation - further demonstration of the power of our unique joint venture model," she added.
The UK competition regulator is investigation veterinary services for household pets in the UK.
In a recent white paper, the CMA said remedies being considered included requiring vets to publish information on prices, treatment options, services, ownership and other basic information.
Looking ahead, Pets At Home said it expects current market conditions and the subdued consumer backdrop to remain in financial 2026.
The first six weeks of the year have begun as expected, with profit tracking in line with guidance, the company noted.
Underlying pretax profit in Retail is expected to decline in financial 2026, while the company anticipates "further progress" in underlying pretax profit for its Vet arm.
Pets At Home guides for group underlying pretax profit to fall to between GBP115 million and GBP125 million in financial 2026 from GBP133.0 million in financial 2025. This had been up 0.7% from GBP132.0 million in financial 2024.
CEO McGowan said: "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."
Shares in Pets At Home were up 3.7% to 272.00 pence in London on Wednesday morning.
By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter
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