Pets at Home saw its underlying annual pre-tax profits edge up 0.7% to £133.0m after strong growth in its veterinary business was offset by disappointing performance in its retail chain.
The Vet unit saw profits surge 23.3% to £75.9m on sales up 13.0% to £655.1m over the 12 months to 27 March 2025.
However, the Retail division saw profits tumble 16.6% to 72.9m on sales down 1.8% to £1.31bn amid subdued growth in the pet sector and a “soft UK consumer backdrop”.
Looking ahead, Pets at Home expects the difficult trading conditions to continue. As a result, the group’s underlying pre-tax profit for the current year is forecast to fall in the range of £115m and £125m.
Chief Executive Lyssa McGowan said: “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.
“We now have a platform that is fit for the future and capable of delivering sustained outperformance and market share gains through delighting consumers and increasingly fulfilling all of their pet care needs. During this period of transformation, we have completely replatformed our digital infrastructure, built new capabilities around our data, brand & marketing, and simplified our distribution network to a single distribution centre fulfilling stores, online and subscriptions, and we have achieved this against the backdrop of a normalising pet care market and low consumer confidence.
“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.”
She concluded: “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.”
NAM Implications:
- It could be said that a pet owner’s relationship with their vet is stronger and richer than consumers buying from retailers on behalf of family pets.
- i.e. regularity and hands-on contact with ‘consumer’ and owner ensures continuity in terms of fees for professional help.
- Two very different business models that Pets At Home are well used to…
- It’s just tougher in retail, now more than ever before.
- Needing all the moves being practised by the mults and their suppliers…
