Pets at Home says sales momentum has continued to build, following a return to ‘normalisation’ in the second half of the last quarter.
In a trading update released today (September 24) the pet retailing giant reflected on trade in the first half of its financial year. The previous trading update highlighted that the last eight weeks of the first quarter had seen sales momentum returning across all areas of the business ‘reflecting normalisation of shopping habits’ among its customers, as well as allowing the re-instatement of services and across retail and veterinary operations.
The current update reveals that the momentum has continued across both retail and veterinary, delivering double-digit, like-for-like growth in customer sales into and through the eight weeks to September 10 2020.
Pets at Home said: “This is testament to several factors, not least the inherent resilience in our pet care model and the underlying pet care market.
“We continue to benefit from the adaptability of our operations to changes in customer behaviour and preferences, our continuing investment in omni-channel capacity and customer acquisition channels, and the clear advantages of our unique owner-managed First Opinion veterinary model.”
The company has acknowledged that covid-19 continues to create ‘material uncertainties’ around the trading environment, including the risk of a second lockdown. However, it says that based on trading year to date, and as a consequence of sustained strength in performance, it now expects full-year underlying pre-tax profit to be ahead of current market expectations with balance sheet and liquidity remaining strong.
FY21 interim results will be announced on 24 November 2020.
