Pets At Home Groomed For £1.5bn Public Debut

Pets at Home is to join the growing pack of retail chains being groomed for a stock market debut next year after hiring investment banks to lead a £1.5bn listing.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR (Frankfurt: A1C10P - news) ), the global private equity firm, is plotting a flotation of Britain's biggest pets retailer as soon as the first quarter of 2014 as it seeks to exploit buoyant stock market conditions, according to insiders.

The buyout group has appointed its in-house capital markets division alongside Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) , Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Nomura to oversee the listing.

The chain's public market debut will come four years after KKR acquired it in a £955m deal.

In its latest set of full-year results, published in August, Pets at Home reported a surge in sales and profits, underlining its status as one of the high street success stories during a period of economic volatility.

Earnings broke through the £100m barrier for the first time in the year to March, although Nick Wood, the former Dixons executive who now runs Pets at Home, expressed caution about the outlook.

“Market conditions remain challenging with disposable incomes under pressure for many of our customers," he said.

"Against this backdrop we remain committed to delivering fantastic value as well as exceptional service to our customers through new stores and trading formats, new product innovation, and the engagement and knowledge of truly committed colleagues throughout the business.”

Operating from 360 stores, Pets at Home also runs a chain of veterinary practices and is the country's biggest retailer of pet food and pet accessories.

The company will form part of a deluge of prospective stock market flotations by UK retailers from all areas of the consumer spending spectrum.

House of Fraser, B&M Bargains, Poundland and AOL (NYSE: AOL - news) , an online appliances retailer, are all drawing up plans to list.

Their plans underline the continuing contrast between the successes and failures of British retailing, with Blockbuster and Barratts, the shoe chain, calling in administrators this week with the combined threat to around 3000 jobs.

KKR and Pets at Home declined to comment.