|
|
Breaking News: Pets at Home announces growth in sales...but fall in operating profits
Pets at Home has today announced its end-of-year figures which show a 7.1% increase in sales, taking the total volumes to £544.3m compared to £508.2m in 2011. But operating profits have decreased by 2.4% to £77m...
Pets at Home has today announced its end-of-year figures which show a 7.1% increase in sales, taking the total volumes to £544.3m compared to £508.2m in 2011. But operating profits have decreased by 2.4% to £77m.
Pre-tax profits were up by 0.5% to £91.7m (compared to £9.3m in 2011) although operating profits decreased by 2.4% to £77m (£77.9m in 2011). This reflected an increase in depreciation as a result of increased capital spending on growth projects.
Announcing the results, Pets at Home said the operational highlights were the continued investment in new strores and formats; the opening of a second distribution centre and Hong Kong sourcing operation; the expansion of vet practices and grooming salons, and the appointment of Nick Wood as CEO.
|
 |
|
|
Financial figures are pleasing, says Pets at Home CEO
“In a year of significant capital and revenue investment and against a challenging economic and retail background it is extremely pleasing to report further growth in turnover and profit," said Chief Executive Nick Wood.
“In a year of significant capital and revenue investment and against a challenging economic and retail background it is extremely pleasing to report further growth in turnover and profit," said Chief Executive Nick Wood.
"Encouragingly, from these investments we have built good momentum into the current financial year with like for like sales growth of 3.2% for the first half of the year to 11 October 2012.
“Since I joined Pets at Home in June 2012 I have been impressed with the talent and enthusiasm of our management team and our colleagues throughout the business. These results serve to underline the quality of the whole team.
“Whilst there remains a great deal of uncertainty for consumers with little prospect of any real improvement in disposable incomes in the near future, we remain focused on delivering exceptional value for our customers.
"We believe that this, together with new stores and trading formats, new product and service innovations and the continued exceptional engagement of our colleagues will be the basis of another year of growth.”
|
|
Review of the operational performance
During the course of the year Pets at Home invested significantly in building the foundations for future growth, opening 32 new stores, commissioning its second distribution centre, establishing a global sourcing operation in Hong Kong and enhancing both its product offer and in-store experience...
"During the course of the year we invested significantly in building the foundations for our future growth, opening 32 new stores, commissioning our second distribution centre, establishing a global sourcing operation in Hong Kong and enhancing both our product offer and in-store experience," says Nick Wood.
"Our service proposition continues to expand, with the opening of 18 new grooming salons and 19 Companion Care in-store veterinary practices, bringing the total number of salons to 61 and vet practices to 92. We will continue to expand these key services as they are valued highly by our customers.
"Our 5,900 colleagues continue to be one of our key strengths. We took great pride in being placed second in The Sunday Times ranking of the 25 Best Big Companies To Work For in 2012.
"This external recognition supports our own internal measures which confirm we have a team of highly engaged and motivated colleagues who work together to provide the highest levels of customer service.
"We continue to prioritise and support our colleagues with training and development to ensure we deliver the highest standards of pet welfare and advice. In the first half year we have doubled the number of qualified nutrition consultants in our stores and also delivered the training to deliver a microchipping service which is now available in every store.
"We have further expanded our product ranges in store and via our website. We introduced new ranges with contemporary styling in Dog and Cat bedding and expanded our premium food offer for both dogs and cats. Here we launched our own luxury cat food range "Seriously Good" and "Pickle's" cat treats as well as successfully launching "Spencer's Deli", our premium dog food range.
"We also added additional services such as product personalisation. The launch of Pets at Home pet insurance in early 2011 went well and resulted in a pleasing performance over the year. We have invested heavily in establishing our second distribution centre, which opened in July 2011, becoming fully operational in March 2012. Our online fulfillment operation was successfully embedded into this distribution centre in the second half of the year. We will capture the full benefit of this investment in 2012/13.
"Whilst a significant proportion of capital investment was focused on future growth, we continued to upgrade and improve both our aquatic systems and animal housings to ensure pet welfare standards are maintained to the highest possible standard.
"During the year we opened three in-store advice and adoption centres for dogs, operated by the Dog‟s Trust. These have been funded by the Support Adoption for Pets Charity, which raised more than £1.7m in the year (well ahead of the £1.3m raised in the previous year) through the efforts of our colleagues and via donations received from the rehoming and adoption of 62,000 pets from in-store adoption centres.
"We are delighted that, since opening, 90 dogs have been rehomed. In addition, more than £1m of grants were made to pet re-homing charities across the UK. We have made strong progress in the first half of the current financial year with strong returns from areas where we have invested in particular in range and merchandising development in dog and cat advanced nutrition.
"We have seen encouraging results from our latest TV advertising campaign particularly where we have advertised our expertise in the areas of flea and worming, and nutrition consultations."
|
|
|
|
Year of mixed fortunes for Pets at Home
It hasn't all been good news for Pets at Home this year. Back in September the BBC's consumer Watchdog programme exposed serious cases of poor animal care at several Pets at Home stores...
It hasn't all been good news for Pets at Home this year. Back in September the BBC's consumer Watchdog programme exposed serious cases of poor animal care at several Pets at Home stores...
Watchdog reported on two cases of ringworm in guinea pigs sold to Watchdog viewers while in a separate incident two rabbits died soon after they were bought by a member of the public from a Pets at Home store.
A Watchdog team then went undercover in eight of the company's stores and found fish suffering from disease. In one store there were 10 dead fish in a tank. Small animals were also filmed in a poor state of health.
Watchdog employed the services of Mike Jessop, a former President of the Small Animal Veterinary Association.
On the programme he claimed: "I believe Pets at Home are in breach of several codes by which they are regulated. These codes are in place for animal welfare.
"The company seem to have too many animals. They should either increase their staff and training or decrease the number of animals."
Watchdog quoted Pets at Home CEO Nick Wood as saying the report was a huge concern for everyone at the company. Pet welfare was at the heart of everything they did, and they deeply regretted any instances of failing to meet their exacting standards.
Based on the Watchdog findings Pets at Home were reported to be reviewing health check training, increasing fish tank checks plus monitoring and improving stores and training.
|
|
Lifetime Achievement Award for Pets at Home founder
On a positive note this year, the pet industry gave a Lifetime Achievement Award to Pets at Home founder Anthony Preston...
On a positive note this year, the pet industry gave a Lifetime Achievement Award to Pets at Home founder Anthony Preston...
Anthony thanked the industry for "forgiving him" for any disruption caused by the company over the years.
He made the comment after receiving the award at the 2012 Pet Industry Awards in September in recognition of his accomplishment in setting up the UK's largest pet retail business.
He recalled how financially audacious the company's expansion had been, expressing pride at its current turnover of £0.5 billion.
According to Anthony, Pets at Home had caused "a certain amount of disruption to the industry over the years" and he hoped that the award was "a gesture of forgiveness."
In his acceptance speech he gave special thanks to John Farrell, formerly of Pets at Home, who had supported him throughout the years.
"I’ve never had a personal award," he said. "This one is going home with me."
|
|
|
|
