By Jonathan Prynn
Copyright standard
Shares in Pets at Home slumped by a fifth today as it ousted its chief executive and issued a second profit warning in less than two months.
The pet shop and veterinary surgery chain said boss Lyssa McGowan had left “with immediate effect” with no successor lined up
Non-executive Ian Burke will run the business until a permanent CEO has been found, the company said.
In an unscheduled trading update Pets at Home, which enjoyed a huge boom during the lockdown years, said the pet retail market “remained subdued, declining slightly year to date.”
Store sales in particular have been “challenging” falling by 5% in the year to date. However online sales have seen double digit growth.
But overall the rate of improvement has been below expectations, the company said.
Pre-tax profits for the year to the end of March are now expected to be in the range of £90 million to £100 million.
The company made a £133 million underlying profit last year and had issued guidance of £115 million to £125 million at the time of the results in May.
However, this was cut to £110 to £120 million in a previous profit warning in July.
Before joining Pets, McGowan was Sky UK’s Chief Consumer Officer where she had responsibility for Sky’s Consumer businesses and was a non-executive director of Morrisons until its sale to CD&R.
The business was founded in Chester in 1991 by entrepreneur Anthony Preston. He sold to Bridgepoint Capital for £230 million in July 2004. In 2010 KKR then paid around £955 million for the business before it was floated on the stock market in 2014.
The pets boom during the Covid lockdowns sent sales through the £1 billion mark for the first time. The chief executive at the time said the pandemic had removed historical barriers to pet ownership and were “strengthening the emotional bond between people and their pets”.
More recently Pets at Home and other large vet chains have been the subject of an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority since 2024.
The watchdog has been focusing on issues such rising prices and declining competition due to industry consolidation.
