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(Alliance News) - Pets at Home Group PLC said Wednesday its expectations for the group's current financial year remain unchanged as revenue grew in the third quarter.
For the 12-week period ended January 2, the animal products retailer reported total revenue at GBP255.9 million, a 7.9% increase from GBP237.2 million a year before. On a like-for-like basis, revenue increased by 5.1%.
Segmentally, Retail revenue rose by 7.2% for the period, with like-for-like growth of 7.0%. This was driven by 23% growth from omnichannel revenue, which consists of orders placed online or in-store using the "order-in-store service".
Meanwhile Vet Group delivered 14% growth in revenue, with a like-for-like increase of 8.9%, due to higher First Opinion customer sales across all vet practices.
Looking ahead, Pets at Home expects underlying pretax profit to be in line with current market consensus, which ranges between GBP87 million and GBP101 million.
This reflects either a 3.0% decline or 16% increase from the GBP89.7 million reported the year before.
"Our sales performance in the quarter proves once again that by offering convenient and affordable pet care to customers, we can further strengthen our market leading position. Against a backdrop of unprecedented consumer volatility, our continued momentum leaves us very much on track with our plans for the year," said Chief Executive Officer Peter Pritchard.
Shares in Pets at Home - which is based in Hanforth - were up 1.9% at 290.80 pence on Wednesday in London.
By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com
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