Pets at Home plans £275m stock market flotation

Pets at Home has announced plans for a £275m flotation on the London Stock Exchange.

The initial public offering (IPO) is expected to value the pet store and veterinary surgery chain at £1.5bn.

The company, which has 369 stores and 246 surgeries, is the latest of several retailers to announce flotation plans this year.

Its move comes a day after discount chain Poundland announced plans for a £750m listing.

About 500 members of Pets at Home staff, who own 10% of the business, could receive a windfall in the share offering, although holdings of senior executives are likely to be much larger than those of shop workers.

The company, which was bought in 2010 by US private equity group KKR for £955m, hopes the share offering will reduce its debt and aid expansion plans.

Nick Wood, the company's chief executive, said: "This is a very exciting time for Pets at Home as we look to drive our expansion programme in the UK to over 500 stores, more than 700 veterinary practices and in excess of 300 groom rooms in the medium term."

Pets at Home said like-for-like revenues had grown by 2.4% and underlying earnings by 11.1% to £87m in the 40-week period to January 2. This is expected to reach at least £110m in the year to the end of March.

The company has also announced the appointment of four new board members ahead of the float, including Halfords chairman Dennis Millard, who will become Pets at Home's deputy chairman.

The listing follows several similar announcements from other retailers so far this year, including newsagent and convenience store McColl's and electrical appliances retailer AO, as well as Poundland.

In another IPO announcement, King Digital Entertainment, the computer games developer behind Candy Crush Saga, filed to float on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Fat Face and House of Fraser are among other retailers expected to come to market this year.