Pets At Home annual profit falls but says stabilising under new CEO

Pets At Home Group PLC on Wednesday reported lower annual earnings in line with prior guidance, but said it is making progress in stabilising its Retail business under its new chief executive officer.

Pets At Home is a Cheshire, England-based operator of 450 pet supply stores and 440 veterinary practices.

Pretax profit was £86.5 million in the 12 months that ended March 26, down 28% from £120.6 million the year prior, as revenue edged down 0.8% to £1.47 billion from £1.48 billion. Basic earnings per share fell the same 28%, to 13.8 pence from 19.0p.

Pets At Home responded by cutting its annual dividend by 43% to 7.4 pence per share from 13.0p. The company said this is in line with its previously announced new capital allocation approach to pay out 50% of EPS over the medium term.

Pets At Home additionally plans a further £50 million share buyback programme during financial 2027. It noted that it has made £150 million share buybacks over the past four years, reducing its equity by about 10%.

Underlying pretax profit fell 30% to £92.8 million in financial 2026 from £133.0 million in financial 2025. The underlying result was in line with guidance the company had confirmed in March.

Underlying pretax profit from Retail fell 58% to £30.8 million from £72.9 million, but it rose by 10% in the Vet Group to £83.8 million from £75.9 million.

‘Material progress has been made over the past six months stabilising the Retail business, delivering improved satisfaction and better availability,’ Chief Executive Officer James Bailey said.

‘We have the opportunity now to build momentum through profitable volume led growth in Retail while continuing to execute the proven growth levers of our Vet business and launch our Insurance offering.’

Bailey joined Pets At Home at the end of March after former CEO Lyssa McGowan departed in September amid a profit warning. Bailey was managing director of grocer Waitrose Ltd and previously had worked at J Sainsbury PLC.

Pets At Home said Retail sales have grown at a mid-single-digit percentage rate since the start of financial 2027. It expects underlying market growth of 1% to 2% in Retail in the year ahead but expects to outperform this.

The company on Wednesday said it is ‘comfortable’ with consensus market expectations for £98 million in underlying pretax profit, which would be up 5.6% from financial 2026.

Shares were up 3.4% to 191.54 pence early Wednesday in London. They remain down 27% over the past 12 months.

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