
Pets at Home is a British pet supplies retailer selling pet products including food, toys, bedding, medication, accessories and pets. It is listed on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pa ...
and is a constituent of the
FTSE 250 Index.
History
The first store was opened in
Chester
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
in 1991, by Anthony Preston.
In December 1999, Pets at Home acquired
Petsmart UK, bringing a chain of 140 stores under Pets at Home branding.
Pets at Home was sold to
Bridgepoint Capital for £230 million in July 2004.
In November 2007, the 200th store,
Barnstaple, opened. On 27 January 2010, Pets at Home was sold by
Bridgepoint Capital, to United States-based investment firm
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its stra ...
(KKR) for around £955 million.
The 17 September 2012 episode of
BBC consumer affairs television programme ''
Watchdog'' included a report on animal and fish welfare conditions at Pets at Home.
The programme had visited eight stores, as part of an investigation which included Mike Jessop, former president of the Small Animal Veterinary Association. The programme discovered evidence of mistreatment of small animals, dead fish being left to rot and be eaten in tanks, and sick small animals up for sale.
[ That month, Pets at Home issued a full response to the claims made in the broadcast. The BBC trust published a clarification on 7 June 2016 that the website included a version of the item made before Pets at Home's points in reply to criticisms were incorporated. In response to the complaint the programme-makers acknowledged that this represented a serious breach of the BBC's editorial standards and replaced the item with a version which reflected Pets at Home's points.
In March 2014, the company was the subject of an ]initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...
.
In January 2018, KKR sold its remaining 12.3% stake in Pets at Home.
Operations
Pets at home operate 453 stores plus 316 grooming salons. Pets at Home also operate 453 veterinary surgeries operated on a joint venture partnership model and additionally 47 group managed veterinary practices. The joint venture businesses are generally small businesses which pay a percentage of turnover as a management fee to the company for back office services. The company runs a graduate training scheme intended to produce future joint venture partners.
The company owns Vets4Pets, a Guernsey-based veterinary
Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...
business which operates a national network of joint venture partner veterinary practices focusing on treatment of small animals (domestic pets such as dogs, cats, rabbits etc.).[Vets4Pets taking a lead in the Veterinary World](_blank)
www.thisisguernsey.com. 3 February 2013. The company enters into joint venture partnerships with veterinary professionals (usually a veterinary surgeon or veterinary nurse)[Vets4Pets Partner Website Launch](_blank)
www.petgazette.biz. 3 February 2013. to open new small animal practices. These practices are supported by 2 main support offices located in Swindon and Manchester which provide partners and their practices with full administrative support.[Vets4Pets steps on it](_blank)
www.thisisguernsey.com. 3 February 2013.
Management Team
The management team are as follows:
* Lyssa McGowan - Chief Executive Officer
* Mike Iddon - Chief Financial Officer
* William Hewish - Chief Information Officer
* Robert Kent - Chief Data Officer
Board of Directors
Key members of the board are as follows:
* Ian Burke - Non-Executive Chairman
* Dennis Millard - Deputy Chairman & Senior Independent Non-Executive Director
References
Further reading
*
*
"Weirdest items found in dogs' stomachs revealed by Vets4Pets"
''Huddersfield Daily Examiner''.
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pets at Home
Retail companies of the United Kingdom
British companies established in 1991
Retail companies established in 1991
Companies based in Cheshire
Pet stores
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts companies
Pets in the United Kingdom
Veterinary companies of the United Kingdom
Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange
1991 establishments in England
2004 mergers and acquisitions