Lockdown has given one British pet company a financial boost

Pet owners love their animals

Pet owners love their animals Credit: Maxx Chewning/Pets at Home

UK based Pets at Home are aiming to become the best pet care business in the world and their latest figures see another significant boost in revenue.

Total Group revenue grew 7.9 per cent to £1.142.8 billion (€1.257 billion) with retail revenue breaking £1 billion (€1.1 billion) for the first time with growth of 8.7 per cent during the year to Match 25, 2021 despite Covid-related restrictions.

An estimated 8 per increase in UK pet ownership over the past year due in part to lockdown has raised the outlook for ongoing growth across the pet market, with puppy training classes being very popular.

More interestingly for shareholders, the company saw a statutory pre-tax profit to £116.4 million (€128 million) which allowed for an overall dividend of 8p per share, up 7 per cent over the previous year.

Peter Pritchard, Group Chief Executive Officer of Pets at Home commented “We ended this unprecedented year a far stronger pet care business. Despite challenges to how we were able to do business, we grew our market share across all channels and our underlying growth trajectory accelerated.

“Our loyalty clubs saw record periods of new customer registration, strong growth in subscription customers increased the visibility and quality of our sales profile, whilst new clients across our veterinary estate helped increase practice profitability and cash flow.

“Covid-19 has structurally changed the dynamics of the pet care market. We estimate that the rising level of pet ownership, combined with structural demand drivers such as premiumisation and humanisation, has increased the outlook for growth across our addressable market.”

Written by

John Smith

Married to Ophelia in Gibraltar in 1978, John has spent much of his life travelling on security print and minting business and visited every continent except Antarctica. Having retired several years ago, the couple moved to their house in Estepona and John became a regular news writer for the EWN Media Group taking particular interest in Finance, Gibraltar and Costa del Sol Social Scene. Currently he is acting as Editorial Consultant for the paper helping to shape its future development. Share your story with us by emailing newsdesk@euroweeklynews.com, by calling +34 951 38 61 61 or by messaging our Facebook page www.facebook.com/EuroWeeklyNews

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