Business
FY26 pre-close statement
Pets at Home Group Plc anticipates group underlying profit before tax for the 52-week period ending March 26, 2026, to be approximately £92 million, aligning with previous guidance. The company's Retail Turnaround Plan is progressing well, with the Retail business expecting to deliver underlying profit before tax of around £30 million in FY26, supported by H2 volume growth and positive like-for-like sales. The Vet Group is projected to deliver £83 million in profit before tax, driven by increased average transaction values and Care Plan revenues. The company expects to end FY26 with net debt of approximately £20 million, having returned £85 million to shareholders through dividends and buybacks, and will rebalance future shareholder returns by rebasing the dividend to a 50% payout ratio, with the saved cash returned via buybacks. The company also anticipates no adverse impact on its Vet Group strategy from the CMA's veterinary services market investigation. Disclaimer*
About this update from Pets At Home Group Plc
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, 31 MARCH 2026 THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN, INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OF SUCH JURISDICTION Pets at Home Group Plc: FY26 pre-close statement Pets at Home Group plc, the UK's leading pet care business, is pleased to provide a pre-close update in respect of the 52-week period to 26 March 2026. • Group underlying profit before tax (PBT) for FY26 is expected to be c£92m, in line with previous guidance. • Our 'Retail Turnaround Plan' is progressing and is on track across our 4 priority areas, Product, Price, Execution and Cost. We have implemented our price investments and completed our £20m Group overhead savings, and while the benefits of many initiatives still lie ahead of us, we are encouraged by the progress made. In H2, our Retail business has seen volume growth, and we delivered positive LFL sales growth, as guided, with Q4 improving sequentially over Q3. Retail will deliver underlying PBT of c£30m in FY26. • In line with our guidance, Vet Group will deliver PBT of c£83m, a further year of strong profit progress despite the expected slowdown in sales growth as our customer cohorts reach a typical lull in activity. Vet Group performance remains underpinned by growth in average transaction values alongside growth in Care Plan revenues and plans. • Non-underlying costs of c£7m have been incurred in the year, in line with previous guidance. • We expect to finish FY26 in a net debt position of c£20m, after having returned c£85m to shareholders via dividends and buybacks during the year. • Following extensive consultation with our investors, we are rebalancing the way we return cash to shareholders. We will not change the total amount we return to shareholders but we will rebase our dividend to a 50% payout ratio, with that cash 'saving' returned to shareholders via our buyback programme. • We welcome the Final Decision Report of the CMA's veterinary services market investigation. We continue to expect no adverse impact on the growth strategy or ambitions for our Vet Group from the outcome. • Looking ahead to FY27, at this stage, we have c80% of our energy and FX requirements hedged and are comfortable with current analyst consensus expectations for Group un...
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