In This Issue
62% of Pet Trade Xtra readers vote to leave the EU
£97.3m profit for Pets at Home
PIF reveals a healthy interest in natural pet food, as dry increases leadership in £900 million market
Burgess Hill pet store set for rebrand following acquisition by Pets Corner
Volunteer vets – 4 in 5 vets give up time to work with animal charities and rehoming centres
Glee 2016: Pet market trends report
PetQuip arranges benefits package for members visiting Pet Fair Asia in Shanghai
Introducing Wox™ - Playtime Just Got Thrice as Nice
Pet rodents ‘Ant and Dec’ end up in pet hospital after ‘hair-raising’ experience
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South East vets welcome the familiar face of Andy Wellsteed
New ACANA Heritage Puppy Food
OATA announces new Chief Executive
Dogrobes announce new charity partnership
EU receives SDEA seal of approval
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£97.3m profit for Pets at Home
 

Pets at Home Group Plc, announced its preliminary results for the 53 week period to 31 March 2016 showing profits before tax at £97.3 million, up 9.6% on the previous year and more growth plans for 2017.

According to the statement operational highlights included the VIP club reaching 4.5m members, rollout targets were acheived through opening 20 Pets at Home superstores, 6 Barkers stores and 1 Whiskers ‘n Paws trial format. 50 veterinary practices and 60 grooming salons were added to the business.  The company also acquired two specialist veterinary referral centres and a further two post year end.

Ian Kellett, Group Chief Executive Officer, commented: “I am pleased to report another year of good progress. Despite some seasonal challenges to our Health & Hygiene sales, we have seen excellent performance in our strategic growth drivers of Advanced Nutrition, VIP, vet and grooming services. Together with refinancing benefits, this contributed to pre-exceptional earnings per share growth of 11.2%. Our strong cashflow has enabled us to increase the ordinary dividend to shareholders by 39%, to a payout ratio of 50% of earnings, whilst investing for growth through acquisitions of veterinary specialist referral centres.

“We have enjoyed 25 very successful years as a business and enter our 26th year confident in the future. Our colleagues have been central to our success and I thank them for their significant contribution to our results.The pet market has proved over time to be more resilient than general retail, so whilst consumer confidence may be more fragile, we believe our drive to become more specialist and most loved by customers will deliver further progress.”

Included in the results statement is a glimpse at the targets Pets at Home are working towards for this financial year which includes rollout of another 15-20 Pets at Home superstores, 45-55 vet practices, 50-60 grooming salons.  it also states: "We are confident in our ability to execute on our strategy through growing like-for-like revenue and rolling out new space. Whilst margins this year will see the impact of weaker sterling and the National Living Wage, over the medium to longer term we believe these challenges will be outweighed by the support from our growing services business, which is still maturing. Trading to date in the first quarter of FY17 is in line with our expectations."

Here are the numbers from the preliminary statement:

Financial summary and highlights

GBPm

FY16

FY16

FY15

Growth

 

Audited 53 weeks to 31March 2016

Proforma 52 weeks to 24March 2016

Audited 52 weeks to 26 March 2015

On proforma 52 weeks to 24March 2016

Group like-for-like revenue growth1

2.1%

2.2%

4.2%

 

Merchandise like-for-like

1.4%

1.5%

3.7%

 

Services like-for-like

10.0%

10.4%

10.7%

 

 

 

 

 

 

Group revenue

793.1

777.8

729.1

6.7%

Merchandise revenue

710.2

696.5

666.1

4.6%

Services revenue

82.9

81.3

63.0

29.2%

 

 

 

 

 

Group gross margin

54.5%

54.5%

54.2%

31 bps

Pre exceptional EBITDA2

127.4

124.7

119.6

4.2%

Pre exceptional PBT3

97.3

95.3

87.0

9.6%

Statutory PBT

92.1

90.2

87.0

3.7%

Pre exceptional basic EPS3 (pence)

15.4

15.1

13.5

11.2%

1. “52 weeks” represents LFL sales for the 52 week period to 24 March 2016 compared with the 52 week period to 26 March 2015. “53 weeks” represents LFL sales for the 53 week period to 31 March 2016, compared with the 53 week period to 2 April 2015

2. Excludes £0.8m of M&A related exceptional expenses     3. Excludes £0.8m of M&A related exceptional expenses and an exceptional finance expense of £4.3m associated with the amortisation of capitalised fees from the previous finance facility

·         Merchandise: Food revenue growth 6.4%, including Advanced Nutrition revenue up 12.3%. Accessories revenue growth 2.4% (52 week)

·         Services: Fee income from Joint Venture veterinary practices up 22.3% (52 week)

·         Strong free cashflow generation of £77.8m, deleveraging to 1.2x net debt/EBITDA(52 week)

·         Total dividend payable 7.5 pence per share, up 39%, reflecting payout ratio increased to 50% of earnings

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