Pets at Home Group (PETS) Trading update summary

Financial performance and guidance

• Underlying profit before tax for FY26 expected to be around £92m, matching previous guidance.

• Retail business delivered positive like-for-like sales growth in H2, with Q4 improving over Q3.

• Retail segment to deliver underlying PBT of approximately £30m for FY26.

• Vet Group to deliver PBT of about £83m, supported by higher transaction values and Care Plan growth.

• Non-underlying costs for the year are around £7m, consistent with guidance.

Strategic initiatives and shareholder returns

• Retail Turnaround Plan is progressing across product, price, execution, and cost priorities.

• £20m in group overhead savings completed; price investments implemented.

• Net debt at year-end expected to be about £20m after returning £85m to shareholders.

• Dividend to be rebased to a 50% payout ratio, with equivalent cash returned via buybacks.

Outlook and risk management

• About 80% of FY27 energy and FX requirements are hedged.

• Comfortable with current analyst consensus for FY27 underlying PBT (£99m, range £90m–£108m).

• No adverse impact expected from the CMA's veterinary services market investigation.

• Next update scheduled for 27 May 2026 with FY26 preliminary results.