Wilmslow-based pet and vet retailer Pets at Home Group said on Thursday its third-quarter revenue grew 18% to £302 million in the 12 weeks to December 31.
The firm maintained its guidance on full-year outlook, previously announced on January 8.
Pets at Home share rose about 2% on Thursday — and have soared about 40% over the past 12 months.
“Based on trading year to date and assuming no change in our ‘essential’ designation or recent guidance on permitted procedures to veterinary clinicians from the RCVS, we anticipate full-year underlying pre-tax profit, including the previously announced repayment of business rates relief of £28.9m, of at least £77m,” said Pets at Home.
Pets at Home CEO Peter Pritchard said: “Against a backdrop of continued uncertainty our pet care model remains robust, with our performance during the third quarter testament not only to the advantages of our scalable omnichannel pet care platform and unique joint venture veterinary model, but also the hard work and commitment of all our colleagues across the group, to whom I express sincere thanks.
“We entered our final quarter facing renewed challenges in the form of higher COVID infection rates and restrictions on a national level, and our priority remains the health, safety and wellbeing of all of our colleagues, partners and customers.
“Mindful of this challenging environment, I remain confident that the changes we have made to our business enable us to continue providing essential pet care to our customers in a safe and appropriate manner, not only through strict adherence to the protocols which we introduced across our stores and veterinary practices at the onset of the pandemic, and continue to strengthen, but also in a number of other ways, from contactless collection and delivery of pet products to virtual heath care consultations.
“I am very pleased with the progress we have made in this quarter, in particular how we have adapted to the changing environment in which we operate.
“We remain as determined as ever to create the best pet care platform in the world, and our strong liquidity gives us the capacity to make the right investments to support our ambition.”