Recasts; add details from results, CEO quote, background

May 27 (Reuters) – British pets at home PETSP.L Full-year retail sales surpassed £ 1 billion for the first time in its 30-year history on Thursday, riding a wave of pet adoptions by people trapped at home during the pandemic COVID-19.

Work-at-home policies and successive lockdowns in the UK have led to a sharp increase in animal adoptions, with more than 3 million households having purchased a pet since the start of the pandemic, according to the Association of pet food manufacturers.

Pets At Home’s annual revenue grew 8.7% to 1.01 billion pounds ($ 1.4 billion) for the year ended March 25, 2021, and the company expects more profits. high for the full year period ending in 2022.

The company, which kept its stores, website and veterinary practices open through repeated lockdowns until early this year, said sales of puppy products rose 26%, while sales of puppy products were up 26%. articles related to kittens increased by 37%.

Its veterinary practices recruited an average of 9,000 new clients per week.

The company said underlying profit before tax was 6.4% lower year-over-year to £ 87.5million after around £ 30million of COVID-related income and cost restrictions .

“With the investments we are making and the growing pet population, we see an additional £ 600 million revenue opportunity for customers over the medium term,” said CEO Peter Pritchard.

Pets At Home, which operates more than 450 stores offering pet grooming services and insurance products, said it expects underlying pre-tax profit for the 53 weeks leading up to the March 31, 2022 is between 120 and 130 million pounds.

(1 USD = 0.7084 pounds)

(Reporting by Vishwadha Chander in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)

(([email protected]; Mobile: +91 7506036802; Twitter: https://twitter.com/vishwadha;))

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.