Pets At Home
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Pets at Home Group PLC (sometimes shortened to Pets) is a British retailer selling pets (not limited to rabbits, rodents and fish), pet food, toys, bedding and medication. Founded in 1991, the company operates 453 stores across the UK, as well as an online store. The company also provides in-store services, such as grooming, veterinary care and dog training. 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 investm ...
, and has since been listed on the
London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...
as a constituent of the
FTSE 250 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 250 Index, also called the FTSE 250 Index, FTSE 250, or, informally, the "Footsie 250" , is a stock market index that consists of the 101st to the 350th mid-cap blue chip companies listed on the London Stock ...
.


History

The first store was opened in
Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...
in 1991, by Anthony Preston. In December 1999, Pets at Home acquired
Petsmart PetSmart Inc. is a privately held American chain of pet Big-box store, superstores, which sell pet products, services, and small pets. It is the leading North American pet company, and its direct competitor is Petco. Its indirect competitors ...
UK, bringing a chain of 140 stores under Pets at Home branding. Pets at Home was sold to
Bridgepoint Capital Bridgepoint Group plc is a British private investment company listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Bridgepoint was founded as NatWest Equity Partners, a private equity firm part of NatWest. On ...
for £230 million in July 2004. In November 2007, the 200th store,
Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town and civil parish in the North Devon district of Devon, England. The town lies at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool from ...
, opened. On 27 January 2010, Pets at Home was sold by
Bridgepoint Capital Bridgepoint Group plc is a British private investment company listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Bridgepoint was founded as NatWest Equity Partners, a private equity firm part of NatWest. On ...
to US-based investment firm
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global private-equity and investment company. , the firm had completed private-equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 billion of total ...
(KKR) for around £955 million. 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 investm ...
on the
London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...
. 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 394 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 Vets for Pets, a
Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...
-based
veterinary Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in non-human animals. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all animal species, both ...
business that 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
www.thisisguernsey.com. 3 February 2013.
The company enters into joint-venture partnerships with veterinary professionals (usually a
veterinary surgeon Veterinary surgery is surgery performed on non-human animals by veterinarians, whereby the procedures fall into three broad categories: orthopaedics (bones, joints, muscles), soft tissue surgery (skin, body cavities, cardiovascular system, GI/u ...
or veterinary nurse)Vets4Pets Partner Website Launch
www.petgazette.biz. 3 February 2013.
to open new small animal practices. These practices are supported by two main support offices in Swindon and Manchester, which provide partners and their practices with full administrative support.Vets4Pets steps on it
www.thisisguernsey.com. 3 February 2013.


Controversies

The 17 September 2012 episode of
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
consumer affairs television programme ''
Watchdog Watchdog or watch dog may refer to: Animals *Guard dog, a dog that barks to alert its owners of an intruder's presence * Portuguese Watchdog, Cão de Castro Laboreiro, a dog breed * Moscow Watchdog, a breed of dog that was bred in the Soviet U ...
'' included a report on animal 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.


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 Companies in the FTSE 250 Index 1991 establishments in England 2004 mergers and acquisitions