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Wagging Tails For Pets At Home As Sales Rise

Wagging Tails For Pets At Home As Sales Rise

Pets at Home has revealed quarterly revenue growth of more than 10%, amid an ambitious expansion plan.

In an interim management statement, the pet food and accessory retailer said total revenue grew by 10.4% to £210.8m in the 16-week period to July 17.

It said like-for-like sales were up 4.1%, boosted by its VIP Club membership scheme and a growing presence in veterinary practices.

It saw merchandise revenues rise by 9% to £192.5m.

This included an 8.8% growth in food and 9.2% in accessories.

Its VIP loyalty scheme saw a rise from 2 million members at the end of the 2014 financial year to 2.4 million at the end of FY2015 Q1.

Pets at Home Chief Executive Nick Wood said: "Looking ahead, we will continue to seize opportunities to grow and develop Pets At Home and focus on the delivery of our strategy.

"Given the strong first quarter performance, we remain confident in our expectations for the full financial year."

It said 45 new outlets were opened in the quarter.

It currently operates from 386 UK stores as well as almost 300 small veterinary surgeries.

The company plans to grow to over 500 UK stores, with more than 700 veterinary practices.

Pets at Home was one of a host of retailers to take advantage of a buoyant stock market earlier this year.

The company floated on March 12 - on the same day as the discount retailer Poundland.

Although the pet retailer's share price has fallen around a fifth since flotation, investors were buoyed by Wednesday's statement, with shares up more than 5% in midday trading.