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Pets at Home to expand across the UK

This article is more than 9 years old
The UK's largest small-animal vet is increasing its number of grooming salons and veterinary practices

Pets at Home is planning 50 new pet grooming salons and up to 60 more veterinary practices in the year ahead as it seeks to expand its operations. Now the UK's biggest small-animal vet in the country after acquiring Vets4Pets last year, Pets at Home currently has 377 practices. It opened 42 new grooming salons last year to take its portfolio to 129.

In its first annual results as a listed company, the retailer said sales had risen 11% to £665m, but pre-tax profits sank 24% to £40m after £9m on fees related to its flotation.

Chief executive Nick Wood said new services and its VIP Club loyalty scheme were encouraging customers to visit stores more often. But shares in the retailer slipped 1.5% to 214p, well below the 245p at which it launched on the stock market in March, as Wood was relatively downbeat about the prospects for consumer spending. "Consumers are cautious. We haven't had a sustained real income rise for some time," he said.

Meanwhile, Nick Bubb, an independent retail analyst, suggested that the retailers' historically strong growth was slowing. "The suspicion is that there isn't much gas left in the (fish) tank," he wrote.

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