Pets at Home has hired former Sainsbury’s exec Anja Madsen as its new chief operating officer for retail.
Madsen, who is due to start her role in April, joins with extensive retail experience in both the UK and Denmark, previously serving as CEO of Danish grocery chain Føtex.
Prior to this, Madsen held senior positions at Tesco alongside Sainsbury’s and was also marketing leader at Johnson & Johnson in Europe and the Middle East.
Under her new role, Madsen will be in charge of leading the company’s retail business and 9,000 staff members across more than 450 shops, operations, logistics, supply chain and commercial.
The retailer added that she would be “focused on further enhancing the pet care centre estate along with delivering fantastic products, services, and support to Pets at Home customers.”
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The new appointment follows the group’s former chief operating officer Lisa Miao revealing she would retire, after being promoted to the role in 2022.
The new COO said: “As a specialist retailer with such passionate and purpose-led colleagues, Pets at Home is a business I have admired from afar and I am delighted to have the opportunity to join the executive team at such an exciting time.”
In January, Pets at Home lowered its full-year profit outlook as retail sales fell below expectations over the golden quarter.
The pet specialist said it expected underlying pre-tax profit to reach £132m for the year, down from its previous goal of around £136m.
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