Pet care retailer boosted by ‘excellent Christmas’

petbarnShops, in-store clinics and emergency hospitals have helped pet care retailer Greencross lift its first-half profit 5.9 per cent to $23.2 million.

The parent company of Petbarn says revenue for the 26 weeks to December 31 rose 5.1 per cent – despite the prior corresponding period containing 27 weeks – with key like-for-like sales growing 4.5 per cent.

“Excellent trading over the Christmas period, higher premium food sales and growth in online were all key contributors to a good retail result,” said Greencross’ chief executive officer, Martin Nicholas.

“I am confident that our one stop shop approach to pet care and the scope, and quality, of our full service veterinary offering are key points of differentiation from our competitors, which are highly attractive to pet consumers and will enable us to further grow our market share in Australia and New Zealand.”

Greencross’ Australian retail division posted 6 per cent revenue growth and LFL sales growth of 4.0 per cent.

EBITDA increased by 9 per cent to $54.4 million.

The pet care retailer opened eight retail stores in the first half bringing the total number of stores to 247, also opening 8 GP vet clinics in the first half, increasing the size of the GP clinic network to 152 clinics.

Greencross now operates 45 veterinary clinics open inside retail stores.

Australian in-store GP clinics contributed $9.5 million in revenue and now represent 13 per cent of Australian GP vet clinic revenue.

Online Australian online sales increased by 92 per cent to $9 million and now represent 3.4 per cent of Australian retail sales. Click & collect now comprises over 40 per cent of online sales.

Sales of private label products and exclusive brands contributed over $50 million in revenue in the first half and represented over 21 per cent of total Australian retail product sales.

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