 suffered from slower then expected trading in their fiscal third quarter, causing shares to fall nearly 10 percent in early trade.){kind=link}
Pets At Home (LON:PETS) suffered from slower then expected trading in their fiscal third quarter, causing shares to fall nearly 10 percent in early trade on Thursday.
Revenue growth for the entire group rose 4.4 percent to £203.7 million, but merchandise revenues remained flat at £177.4 million.
However trading was boosted significantly by its services division, incorporating their Joint Venture vet practice as well as grooming salons. Whilst group like-for-like revenue growth rose just 0.1 percent, like-for-like revenue in the services division rise by 7 percent in the third quarter.
Pets At Home reiterated that profit for full year remains in line with expectations.
Ian Kellett, the group’s Chief Executive Officer, commented:
“Vet services yet again performed strongly this quarter, where our strategy of providing a quality service to clients across both primary opinion and specialist referral centres is delivering results, and is a platform for continuing strong growth.
“With a quarter to go, our profit outlook for the year remains in line with expectations, reflecting both the continued investment in our customer offer and ongoing efficiency initiatives.
“Our focus on becoming more specialist, and doing the right thing for our customers, remains at the forefront of our strategy.”
The weak results led broker Liberum Capital Markets to maintain its ‘sell’ rating on the stock, restating its view that the retailer is facing a number of structural challenges.
“Merchandise revenues were flat quarter-on-quarter, but on a LFL basis they declined -0.5 percent from a +1.9 percent run-rate at the H1 stage,” the broker said.
“This has to be seen as very disappointing result which remains the core drum-beat of profits at c.85 percent of EBITDA [underlying earnings].
Pets At Home shares are currently trading down 8.06 percent at 218.90 (1004GMT).