Pets at Home is optimistic about profit expectations for 2024

Offering a pre-close update for the 52 weeks from 31 March 2023 to 28 March 2024, the firm notes its Q4 trends have been “broadly as expected” across retail and vet functions.

It expects to bring in a profit before tax of £132 million ($166.8M/€153.7M). 

Pets at Home confirms that it launched a new digital consumer platform with an improved user experience. The company adds that its Stafford distribution center “continues to function well, supporting all store deliveries, with availability remaining at historically high levels.” 

Net cash

The Pets at Home Group expects to finish the year “in a net cash position,” having returned over £100 million ($126.4M/€116.4M) to shareholders in fiscal year (FY) 2024 through dividends and buybacks.

It added that it also incurred £3 million ($3.8M/€3.5M) more in non-underlying expenses than previously expected due to “higher restructuring costs,” taking total non-underlying costs for FY 2024 to £27 million ($34.1M/€31.4M). 

The group will announce its FY 2024 preliminary results on 29 May. 

Outlook

Looking ahead, the company is “comfortable” with the current analyst consensus expectation for the underlying profit before tax of £144 million ($182M/€167.7M) with a range of £137 million ($173.1M/€159.5M) to £150 million ($189.6M/€174.7M).

“Turning to the outlook, the next year should generate growth of 19% as estimated by the 9 analysts watching the company,” a report from Simply Wall St states. “Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to only expand by 16%, which is noticeably less attractive.”

However, the report notes that some shareholders are “skeptical” of forecasts and have been accepting lower share prices.