(Reuters) – Pets At Home on Thursday said its CEO Lyssa McGowan had abruptly left the company after the British retailer issued its second profit warning in two months, sending shares down to their lowest since March 2020.
Demand for pets and pet products has taken a hit in Britain amid inflation and rising living expenses, as owners spend less on treats and discretionary purchases.
“We have seen the performance of the Retail business improve sequentially, narrowing the gap to the market, but the rate of improvement has been below expectations” the company said.
It said the underlying pet retail market remained subdued through the second quarter.
The company provided no further details on McGowan’s departure in its statement.
Under McGowan, who has led the business since June 2022, Pets At Home’s shares have lost more than a third of their value.
Shares were down 22% at 178.1 pence in morning trading, their lowest since March 2020. They were headed for their worst day since the firm’s market debut in 2014.
The retailer now expects underlying pretax profit of between 90 million pounds and 100 million pounds ($122.55 million to $136.17 million) for the year ending March 2026. It had earlier estimated a pretax profit of 110 million to 120 million pounds.
On average, analysts expect underlying pretax profit of about 116 million pounds for fiscal 2026, according to LSEG data.
The company had lowered its annual profit forecast in July, citing sluggish recovery in its retail segment.
“We think PETS will need to invest to address underperformance from stores,” RBC Capital Markets analysts said, noting the pet retail market was likely to remain challenging.
Non-executive Chair Ian Burke has assumed the role of executive chair till a permanent CEO is appointed.
($1 = 0.7344 pounds)
(Reporting by Raechel Thankam Job in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Bernadette Baum)
