Pets at Home appoints former Waitrose MD as chief executive

(Sharecast News) - Pets at Home Group has appointed former Waitrose managing director James Bailey as chief executive officer, replacing Lyssa McGowan who left abruptly in September after a profit warning. Bailey was MD of Waitrose for more than five years from April 2020 steering the business through the Covid pandemic and high inflation that followed, the company said on Tuesday. He also relaunched Waitrose.com after the company moved off the Ocado platform.

Interim boss Ian Burke will return to his post as non-executive chair when Bailey joins the group on March 30 next year.

Burke in November said "urgent and necessary" action was needed to save the ailing retailer after half-year profits slumped by more than a third.

Underlying profit before tax had slumped 33.5% to £36.2m in the 28 weeks to 9 October. This was driven by an 84% fall in profits to £3.5m at its retail business, which also experienced a 2.3% fall in revenues to £679.9m.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com