LONDON (Alliance News) - Premier Veterinary Group PLC on Tuesday said its pretax loss widened for the twelve months to September 30 on a year-on-year basis despite revenue rising.
For its recently ended financial year, Premier Veterinary posted revenue of GBP3.0 million, up from GBP2.3 million, though saw its pretax loss widen to GBP2.4 million from GBP1.6 million a year earlier.
This was primarily due to administrative expenses increasing to GBP5.2 million from GBP3.0 million, which Premier Veterinary said related to investment in sales and training resources and infrastructures in Europe and the US as the group expanded its geographical markets.
Premier Veterinary also worked to expand its technical resources to support improvements in its technical capabilities during the period and said it completed a "dramatic change of focus in its business direction" during the year following a strategic review the prior year.
The review's outcome was that the group would focus its efforts on its preventative healthcare programme for pets, and said it made good progress in implementing this strategy.
During the year, the group increased the number of pets on plan by 70% to 139,000 pets, and the number of direct debits processed increased by 77%.
Premier Veterinary said through continued investment, in particular in the US, a "significant increase" in shareholder value can be generated.
"The significant progress made over the last twelve months in Europe and the US has helped develop a clear path for investing in sustainable aggressive growth over the next 5 years," said Chief Executive Dominic Tonner.
"The company's research across many countries indicates an opportunity to build a major global enterprise to deliver substantial returns to shareholders. The board remains confident in the group's prospects and in its ability to deliver the expansion strategy," Tonner added.
Shares in Premier Veterinary were untraded on Tuesday, having last traded at 122.00 pence.
By Hannah Boland; hannahboland@alliancenews.com; @Hannaheboland
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