The Pets at Home Group Board has recommended an interim dividend of 4.3 pence per share, an increase of 72% on the prior year. The interim dividend will be payable on 7 January 2022 to shareholders on the register at the close of trading on 3 December 2021.
Other financial highlights include:
Total Group revenue growth of 18.0% to £677.6m, with the continuing increase in active customers
underpinning strong volume growth
Group like-for-like (LFL) revenue growth of 22.2%, or 28.6% on a 2-year basis
Retail LFL revenue growth of 21.9%, or 28.9% on a 2-year basis, with broad-based growth across categories and LFL growth across stores of 21.1%
Omnichannel revenue growth of 21.5%, or 101.4% on a 2-year basis; Participation of total Retail revenue of 15.1% in H1
Vet Group LFL revenue growth of 26.2%, or 23.8% on a 2-year basis; LFL customer sales growth across all First Opinion practices of 26.9% (28.4% 2-year basis), and LFL Joint Venture fee income up 29.3% (25.2% 2-year basis)
Group underlying PBT growth of 77.2% to £70.2m, with growth of 68.3% on a 2-year basis
Group headline free cash flow of £91.6m, up 51.3% YoY, reflecting strong cash generation across their First Opinion veterinary practices and £21m in working capital timing benefits which are expected to reverse in H2; Net cash (excluding lease liabilities) of £64.7m
