Pets at Home’s the pick of the litter as it lifts full-year profit expectations
Pet retailer and vet service provider Pets at Home this morning said it expects full-year underlying profit to be ahead of current market expectations.
Pets At Home shares surged 15 per cent to 351p on the news.
The FTSE-listed pet supplies shop updated investors with the good news after assessing trading for the first eight weeks of the second quarter.
The period covered the summer when UK shoppers slowly returned to the high street and Pets at Home’s pet carers could offer more services.
Pets at Home said it enjoyed double-digit like-for-like growth in customer sales into and through the eight weeks to 10 September.
The retailer also said in a market announcement: “This is testament to several factors, not least the inherent resilience in our pet care model and the underlying pet care market.
“We continue to benefit from the adaptability of our operations to changes in customer behaviour and preferences, our continuing investment in omni-channel capacity and customer acquisition channels, and the clear advantages of our unique owner-managed First Opinion veterinary model.
Although Pets at Home did not discount the threat of a second UK-wide lockdown the retailer said it maintained a “strong balance sheet and liquidity”.
The pet care retailer has 451 locations across the UK.