Shares in Pets at Home (PETS) are firmly in the doghouse with investors, down 35% over one year with the latest sharp plunge triggered by a nasty profit warning (18 September) from the UK pet care leader which led to the immediate departure of CEO Lyssa McGowan. Non-executive chair, Ian Burke will assume the role of executive chair until a permanent CEO has been recruited. McGowan was given quite a bit of time to turn round Pets at Home, but her strategic decisions haven’t yielded the necessary success.

In an unscheduled trading update, the pet food-to-veterinary services group downgraded its full-year 2026 underlying pre-tax profit guidance to between £90 and £100 million from the previous £110 million to £120 million range. As one of the UK’s biggest pet retailers, a nation of pet lovers should be keeping the tills ringing all day long at Pets at Home, but business hasn’t been as good since the pandemic boom faded.

While Pets at Home’s Vet Group continues to deliver high-single digit sales growth, the pet retail market has remained subdued, impacting sales in Pets at Home’s operationally geared retail business, while stiff competition from smaller rivals Jollyes and Pets Corner will hardly have helped. Jefferies believes the debate around Pets at Home ‘will now focus on what measures (price, product, range) can be implemented to alleviate market share losses and/or recover the substantial profit declines’. 

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