Pets at Home revenue passes £1 billion for first time
Pets at Home has posted record group revenue in the year to 26 March with an uplift of 10.2% to just over £1 billion.
This helped the retailer to grow its pre-tax profit by 11% to £99.5 million.
Retail like-for-like revenue climbed by 9.4% in the year following a 15.9% increase in the company’s fourth quarter. Pets at Home’s veterinary business also performed well with a like-for-like sales uplift of 5.6%.
Peter Pritchard (pictured), Pets at Home group chief executive, said: “In normal circumstances, it would have given me great pleasure to reflect on another year in which we have grown sales and profits and successfully executed our proven pet care strategy. These are, however, far from normal circumstances with the rapid, wide-ranging and devastating effects of Covid-19 having an unprecedented impact on all of our lives.”
Looking ahead, the company said it is preparing the business for a series of distinct phases pre and post lockdown despite it being difficult to assess the medium to long term effect of covid-19 on consumer behaviour or when shopping habits will return to normal.
Giving an update on current trading, Pets at Home said nearly all of the exceptional demand seen in the closing weeks of its fourth quarter unwound during the first few weeks of the new financial year. Furthermore, turnover has been hit by the introduction of social distancing rules and restrictions on the sale of non-essential products and services.
Pets at Home also said that increased online sales have not been enough to mitigate a reduction in-store sales. The company has now warned that it expects its group first half profit to be “materially below” the previous year.
Pritchard said: “These are clearly unprecedented times and Pets at Home will not be immune to the challenges that we collectively face. We have had to respond quickly and make significant changes to the way we operate our business and will undoubtedly need to remain focused yet agile as we respond to pandemic-driven issues and opportunities alike.”
