Peter Pritchard will step down from his role as Chief Executive of Pets at Home in May next year.
He has worked at the fast-growing pet goods retailer for eleven years and became CEO in 2018. Pritchard will help to ensure a smooth transition to his successor with the search for a replacement already underway which includes both internal and external candidates.
During his four years in charge, Pritchard has been credited with a transformation of the business which has led to its market capitalisation increasing almost fourfold. Pets at Home has seen particularly strong growth in the last 18 months after people bought more pets during the pandemic.
Ian Burke, chairman of Pets at Home, said: “I would like to thank Peter for his significant contribution to Pets at Home since becoming CEO in 2018. His tireless work and dedication as leader of this great business has given it a very firm foundation for growth long into the future, for which we are all very grateful. We will all be very sorry to see Peter go, and he will leave us next summer with all our best wishes.”
Pritchard added: “Having completed everything that I set out to achieve in 2018, next summer is the right time to take well-earned rest and to hand over the reins to a new leader who will continue this journey in becoming the best petcare business in the world.”
Pets at Home is due to announce its interim results on 23 November. The retailer said that the UK pet market remains robust, with the strong performance it witnessed during the second half of last year continuing throughout the past six months. It now anticipates that group underlying pre-tax profit for the 53 weeks to 31 March 2022 will be at the top end of the current range of analyst expectations, which is ahead of previous guidance.
