Pets at Home Group PLC on Thursday maintained its full-year guidance following a ‘resilient’ first quarter.
Pets at Home is based in Cheshire, England that provides customers with advice, products and care for their pets. It also operates a small-animal veterinary chain.
Pets at Home reported a 1.0% annual rise in quarterly income to £441.1 million. Income was up 0.5% on a like-for-like basis.
Within this, vet revenue increased by 17%, or 13% like-for-like, driven by higher average spend and growth in visits. However, retail revenue fell by 0.8%, both in total and like-for-like.
Looking forward, Pets at Home said it remains ‘comfortable’ with current market consensus for the financial year. The company is expected to post £144 million of underlying pretax profit. This would be up 9.1% from £132.0 million in 2023.
It said gross margins had remained ‘resilient’ in the first quarter.
Chief Executive Officer Lyssa McGowan commented: ‘We are pleased to have delivered a resilient [first quarter], with our growth improving through the quarter as our offer continued to resonate well with UK pet owners. The benefits of our investments in logistics, stores and digital are coming through, and our unique joint venture vets continued to deliver differentiated performance, growing visits and attracting new customers, driven by our passionate, independent practice owners.’
Pets at Home shares were down 0.6% to 305.00 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
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