Pets at Home said it expects full-year underlying profit to be slightly above current market expectations on higher demand for pet food and vet services.

The company reported a 9.9% rise in turnover to £303.4 million, during the 16 weeks ended July 18, with retail turnover rising 8.7% to £266.4m. Sales at Pets at Home’s vet business rose 18.8% to £37m.

Peter Pritchard, Pets at Home’s group chief executive, said the business is introducing more customers to its complete pet care offer, allowing it to take a greater share of their overall spend.

He said that the number of VIPs, who purchase products and a service, has grown 23% year-on-year, driven by increased use of both the Groom Room and our First Opinion vets, while the number of subscription customers across the business is now over 765,000.

Mr Pritchard said: “The momentum with which we exited FY19 has continued into the first quarter of FY20. We have seen a strong sales performance across the business, particularly in retail where like-for-like sales were 8.2% – an impressive 14% on a two-year basis.

“We are also making good progress in our Vet Group. Our plans to buy out a number of joint venture vet practices have been carefully executed, whilst performance in the ongoing estate remains strong. We have the right foundations in place to accelerate the maturity of our vet practices in a sustainable way, delivering cashflow benefits to both joint venture partners and Pets at Home.”