Investing.com — reported a sharp fall in annual profit on Wednesday but said it was comfortable with market expectations for a recovery in the year ahead, sending its shares up over 4%.
The British pet retailer posted pretax profit of £92.8 million for the year ended March 2026, down from £133 million a year earlier.
The result came in ahead of the £92 million the company had outlined in March and within the £90 million to £100 million range it had set out in September 2025.
The company said it was “comfortable” with consensus pretax profit of £98 million for fiscal year 2027.
Retail pretax profit fell 58% to £31 million, reflecting what the company described as a soft market and weaker performance in discretionary accessories, where like-for-like sales declined 3.5%. Pretax profit at the Vet division rose 10% to £84 million, while joint-venture consumer revenues increased 6%.
The company said current trading indicated retail like-for-like sales growth had accelerated to a mid-single-digit percentage rate from 2.2% in the fourth quarter, marking a fifth consecutive quarter of improvement. It added that the comparative period was tougher in the first quarter, at negative 2.8%, than in the fourth quarter, at negative 5.2%.
The company said volume growth was running ahead of sales growth, customer satisfaction had improved by four percentage points, including on value for money, and it had delivered £20 million in cost savings.
For fiscal 2027, the company forecast like-for-like sales growth, supported by market growth of 1% to 2% and market share gains. It also expects profit growth in both its Retail and Vet divisions, with low-single-digit growth in Vet and momentum building through the year.
Robinhood UK lead analyst Dan Lane said the intact guidance was the central takeaway. “The key point today is that FY27 guidance has survived intact,” Lane said. “After a year where Retail profits essentially vanished and the Vet segment carried the group, the business needed to show a credible route to recovery so sticking to next year’s growth consensus matters.”
Lane flagged the Retail division as the one to watch. “Retail will be the side of the business to watch from here – being the go-to store is even more important than ever, with pet ownership normalising after Covid and competition heating up.”
Jefferies, which rates the stock “buy” with a price target of 265 pence, said early initiatives were “generating clear momentum” and that it was “confident FY26 will mark trough divisional earnings.”
The broker lowered its fiscal year 2027 pretax profit estimate to £101 million from £106 million, citing macro uncertainty and the possibility that new chief executive James Bailey could choose to reinvest in growth opportunities, while noting it remained ahead of the £98 million consensus.
Jefferies said the Vet business “remains a market leading proposition – a stance endorsed by the CMA’s findings.”
The bank’s fiscal year 2027 earnings per share estimate stood at 17.28 pence, against a prior estimate of 17.84 pence.
Jefferies said its estimate was 8% above consensus for fiscal year 2027 and 21% above consensus for fiscal year 2028.
