The interim boss of Pets at Home has revealed that “urgent and necessary action is needed to return the retail side of the business to growth”.

The group’s retail business saw underlying profits plummet by 84.1% to £3.5 million in the six months to 9 October.

Ian Burke, interim executive chairman following Lyssa McGowan's abrupt September exit, announced a “retail turnaround plan with four clear priorities of Product, Price, Execution and Cost.”

He said: “Stepping into the role as Interim CEO 10 weeks ago, I set out with a clear agenda – to establish a firm grip on the issues facing our retail business, whilst maintaining the positive results we're seeing in areas such as Vets. 

“For over 30 years, Pets at Home has been a business with a clear purpose, an established market and loyal customer base, but it's clear that urgent and necessary action is needed to return the Retail business to growth to meet both our own expectations and those of our investors.

“I've spent time visiting over 100 Pet Care Centres and engaging with colleagues at all levels of the business to establish where the challenges are isolated, resulting in the implementation of a retail turnaround plan with four clear priorities of Product, Price, Execution and Cost. We are returning to our retailing roots to stabilise and rebuild momentum in our Retail business, and to lay the foundations for a new CEO in due course.

“At the heart of our business remains 17,000 trusted and passionate colleagues and vet partners, and it's through them that we will deliver future growth. I am grateful to them all for their unwavering dedication and energy and together we'll ensure the business can thrive again.”

Pets at Home Group Plc: FY26 Interim Results for the 28 week period to 09 October 2025, were announced yesterday (Wednesday).

They included: 

Group consumer revenue# up 0.7% to £1.06bn.

• Vet Group consumer revenue# up 6.7%, high quality growth driven by average transaction values and continued growth in Care Plan revenues with over 50% of clients having one. Visits were more subdued due to more of our clients entering healthy mid-life where visits are lower.
• Retail consumer revenue# down 2.3%, delivered against a flat market growth and no inflation of note. Q2 performance sequentially improved over Q1 as we saw a full quarter of strong online performance, partially offsetting weaker store sales. Food sales declined 0.3% with accessories sales falling 5.9%, lagging a soft market.

Total Group statutory revenues down 1.3% to £778.3m, with Group like-for-like# (LFL) revenue -1.3%.

Group operating costs broadly flat excluding insurance start-up costs. Including them they grew 1.2% YoY. Well within the stated guidance of ‘operating costs to increase no more than 5% in FY26’.

Group underlying PBT# of £36.2m down 33.5% YoY, underlying PBT margin# of 4.7% down c220bps.