Pets at Home expects its profits for the year to meet guidance and said it was “comfortable” with analyst forecasts for the year ahead.
The pet specialist said trading during the fourth quarter was “broadly as expected” and group underlying pre-tax profits is expected to be £132m.
It said it will end the year “in a net cash position”, after returning £100m to shareholders and incurring “£3m more non-underlying costs than previously expected due to higher restructuring costs”.
Subscribe to Retail Gazette for free
Sign up here to get the latest news straight into your inbox each morning
Pets at Home said it had ”successfully launched” its new digital platform which delivers “much improved user experience and functionality across our app and website”, and that its product availability remained at “historically high levels” thanks to its new Stafford distribution centre.
The retailer said that it was “comfortable with current analyst consensus expectations” for group underlying pre-tax profits in the year ahead.
The update comes as the retailer is facing pressure after the Competition and Markets Authority launched an investigation into whether pet owners could be over paying for medicine or prescriptions due to failures in the veterinary sector.
The retailer said it was “incredibly disappointed” with the regulator’s probe, adding that “the CMA’s findings do not fully reflect our unique business model of locally-owned vet practices”.
A Pets at Home spokesperson added: “We have been working closely with the CMA on their areas of concern and will continue to do so as their inquiry progresses to ensure the distinctiveness of our model is fully recognised.”
The retailer will report its full-year results on 29 May.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
