Jollyes sinks further into the red despite sales surge at Pets at Home rival
Jollyes has sunk further into the red despite its sales continuing to surge as it attempts to increase its rivalry with Pets at Home.
The company has posted a pre-tax loss of £13.3m for the year to 26 May, 2024, after having also made a £5.3m loss in the prior 12 months.
However, newly-filed accounts with Companies House also show its turnover jumped from £115.2m to £144m over the same period.
The latest turnover figure compares to its sale standing at £86.9m in May 2022, £76.9m in 2021 and £67.9m in 2020.
But despite the continuing sales rises, Jollyes has not posted a pre-tax profit since the £2.1m it achieved in the year to May 2018.
Jollyes said that during the year its management wrote off £6m of assets which they believed were not recoverable, paid £1m on pre-opening costs of 13 new stores and £1.9m was spent on a supply chain transition project which had started the previous year.
It also spent £1.9m on costs related to the sale of the business and £400,000 on restructuring.
Jollyes was acquired by TDR Capital, the private equity backer of Asda, pub group Stonegate and David Lloyd Leisure, in 2024.
In a statement signed off by the board, the company said: “The directors believe that the group is financially and operationally well-positioned to capitalise on its market standing and is targeting further improved performance in 2025.”
During the year the average number of people employed by Jollyes increased from 963 to 1,160.
Jollyes eyes expansion to take on Pets at Home
Earlier this year, Jollyes revealed plans to lower thousands of prices and open new stores across the UK.
The retailer also announced a range of new benefits for its employees in a bid to attract new talent.
The results for Jollyes come after shares in rival Pets at Home surged as evidence grows that the UK’s competition watchdog is moving toward a positive conclusion for the industry, as well as speculation that private equity firm BC Partners was preparing a bid.
At the end of January, Pets at Home reported a slight dip in profit due to lower retail revenue, although vet sales has soared.
Revenue fell 0.2 per cent to £361.6m in the 12 weeks to 2 January.
Retail revenue fell 2.8 per cent like for like, which Pets at Home attributed to a “more challenging UK consumer backdrop with particularly weak footfall from October”.