Pets at Home Group PLC

Earnings Release • Apr 21, 2015

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RNS Number : 7711K

Pets At Home Group Plc

21 April 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, 21 APRIL 2015

Pets at Home Group Plc: FY15 Trading Statement

Delivering on expectations for the financial year 2015

Pets at Home Group Plc, the UK's leading specialist retailer of pet food, accessories and services, today announces a FY15 trading update for the 52 week period to 26th March 2015.

FY15 financial summary

·     Like-for-like revenue growth of 4.2% driven by strength in Advanced Nutrition, Health & Hygiene, VIP Club, Services and Omni-channel

o  Merchandise like-for-like revenue growth of 3.7%

o  Services like-for-like revenue growth of 10.7%

·     Total revenue growth of 9.6% to £729.1m

o  Merchandise revenues up 8.3% to £666.1m, with Food outperforming Accessories

o  Services revenues up 25.2% to £63.0m

·     Fee income from Joint Venture veterinary practices up 30.7% to £28.2m

·     Underlying EBITDA for FY15 expected to be in line with market consensus*

Operational summary

·     Rollout during FY15

o  25 gross store openings, bringing the total portfolio to 400

o  61 vet practice openings, of which 32 were retrofits, bringing the total portfolio to 338

o  50 Groom Room openings, of which 26 were retrofits, bringing the total portfolio to 179

·     VIP club

o  Total members at year end of 3.2m, adding over 270,000 in the Q4 period

o  Card swipe rate at store tills represented 65% of revenues in the Q4, compared with 61% during the Q3

Since the year end, we have made our entry into specialist referral veterinary care, acquiring Northwest Surgeons based in Cheshire. Northwest Surgeons will operate as a stand-alone brand and business within our practice network.

Nick Wood, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"We are delighted to be delivering on expectations in our first year as a publicly listed company. We have seen strength across both merchandise and services, demonstrating the broad range of levers through which we will successfully deliver further profitable business growth."

* Consensus expectations for FY15 underlying EBITDA range between £119.3m and £121.4m, with a mean of £120.6m, excludes IFRS2 share based payments

Key Performance Indicators

ROLLOUT			FY15	FY14
Stores	Number of stores		4001	377
New stores		25	322
Vets	Number of vet practices (total)		338	277
Of which Joint Venture practices		329	267
Of which wholly owned Group Venture practices		9	10
Number of standalone vet practices		127	119
Number of in-store vet practices		211	158
% of stores with vet		53%	42%
New vet practices in period (total)		61	69
New standalone vet practices		8	22
New in-store vet practices		53	47
	Of which retrofits		32	18
Groomers	Number of groomers		179	129
% of stores with groomer		44%	34%
New groomers in period		50	42
	Of which retrofits		26	11
VIP CLUB			FY15	FY14
	VIP club members (m)		3.2	2.0
	VIP swipe as % revenue3		65%	52%

FINANCIALS Revenue						FY15	FY14	Q4 FY15
Revenue Split (£m)
Merchandise revenue4					666.1	615.1	149.6
Services & other revenue5					63.0	50.3	15.8
Total Group revenue					729.1	665.4	165.4
Like-for-like growth6					4.2%	2.4%	4.5%
Merchandise like-for-like growth					3.7%	2.4%	4.2%
Services like-for-like growth					10.7%	2.1%	7.5%
Revenue Mix (% of total revenues)
Merchandise					91.4%	92.4%	90.5%
Services & other					8.6%	7.6%	9.5%

1 Store portfolio net of 25 new stores, one permanent closure in the period, and one temporary closure of Rugby, which will be relocated in the 1H FY16

2 Includes one new format store, Barkers

3 Average swipe rate over the Q4 period

4 Includes Food and Accessories revenue

5 Includes veterinary Joint Venture fees and other income, Groom Room revenue, revenue from live pet sales and insurance commission

6 'Like-for-Like' sales growth comprises total sales/fee revenue in a financial period compared to revenue achieved in a prior period, post cannibalisation, for stores, grooming salons and vets that have been trading for 52 weeks. LfL includes revenue from the Group's online operations

Enquiries

Pets at Home Group Plc:                                                                 +44 (0) 161 486 6688

Amie Gramlick, Head Of Investor Relations

Media Enquiries:

Pets at Home Group Plc:                                                                 +44 (0) 161 486 6688

Brian Hudspith, Head Of Corporate Affairs

Brunswick (Public Relations Advisors to Pets at Home):           +44 (0) 207 404 5959

Nick Cosgrove, Natalia Dyett

About Pets at Home

Pets at Home Group Plc is the UK's leading specialist pet omnichannel retailer and services provider.

Pets at Home operates from 400 stores located across the UK. The Group operates the UK's largest small animal veterinary business with 338 practices, run principally under a Joint Venture model using the Companion Care and Vets4Pets brand names. Pets at Home is the UK's leading operator of pet grooming services offered through its 179 Groom Room salons. The Group also owns and operates Ride-away, a specialist equine retail business with a York superstore, website and catalogue. For more information visit: http://investors.petsathome.com/

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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