New Year honour for Pets at Home founder
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 Anthony Preston, who founded Pets at Home in 1991, has been awarded a CBE in the New Year Honours List.
He received the award or services to business, entrepreneurship and philanthropy.
Preston opened the first store in Chester before building it up into a nationwide chain and later selling the group to Bridgepoint for £230m in 2004.
It was a slow start for the business, which launched in the retail recession of the early 1990s, but perseverance and determination helped the chain grow.
The group now has nearly 400 stores and current management are keen to expand it further, boosting the chain to more than 500 outlets and trebling the small animal veterinary surgeries it operates to over 700.
Pets at Home was sold to another private equity firm, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts for £955 million in 2010 before listing on the London stock market last March in a £1.2bn flotation.
Preston stepped away from the boardroom of Cheshire-headquartered Pets at Home in 2010, but retained a small stake in the firm.
The father-of-three, who is on the Sunday Times Rich List, has since launched a joint venture fashion business, Socialwear, with his eldest son, Martin.
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