Pets at Home expects to declare a pre-tax profit of £133 million for the full year.
The figure, for the 52-week period to March 27, 2025, is in line with previous guidance and the retailer revealed that more than half odf underlying pre-tax profit is now derived from the group’s veterinary activity.
Pets at Home said that it will accelerate the rollout of new practices, delivering at least 10 in FY26, together with a further 15 extensions. The group also revealed it will invest around £3m in a new, “capital-light” insurance proposition during the year.
In retail specifically, the plan “assumes subdued UK pet retail market growth continues”. The group is facing cost increases including an £18m impact of recently-announced increases in the National Living Wage and employers’ National Insurance Contributions, as well as new packaging regulations (£2m) and the rebuild of variable pay (c£10m).
Chief executive Lyssa McGowan said: “We are making good progress in delivering our strategy of building the world’s best pet care platform, although the market remains challenging with subdued consumer confidence and the business facing significant external cost headwinds in 2025.
“Our vets business is delivering very strong growth and continuing to outperform the market, with a robust pipeline of new openings in place for the coming year leveraging our unique practice owner model. In retail, we’re confident that with our major infrastructure investments behind us, we are well placed for future growth as the short-term pressures ease and the consumer environment improves.”
