Shares in Pets at Home have fallen by over 12% after the retailer lowered its profit expectations for the current financial year.

The firm stated in an unscheduled trading update that its existing guidance assumed 1% market growth in its retail sector, as it expected its digital investment to bear fruit.

However, Pets at Home said that through Q2, the underlying pet retail market has remained subdued, declining slightly in the year-to-date.

While it has continued to see double-digit digital sale growth in the current financial year, its store sales have "proved more challenging", declining by 5% in the year-to-date.

As a result, Pets at Home has lowered its profit before tax expectations from between £115m and £125m to between £90m and £100m for the year to the end of March 2026.

The update comes as the firm’s chief executive officer (CEO), Lyssa McGowan, has left the business with immediate effect.

Pets at Home’s non-executive chair, Ian Burke, has assumed the role of executive chair until a permanent CEO has been recruited.

In a statement, the firm’s board thanked McGowan for "her commitment to leading the business since she became CEO of the business in 2022".

Investment analyst at AJ Bell, Dan Coatsworth, concluded: "When a CEO leaves a business with immediate effect, you know something serious has happened. In Pets at Home’s case, a nasty profit warning has cost McGowan her job.

"Prior to today’s news, £1bn had been wiped off the value of the company since McGowan was appointed CEO designate in February 2022. That’s significant value destruction and shareholders will only be patient for so long.

"Someone must take responsibility and that inevitably falls on the business leader. The board might have felt they had no choice but to seek a new CEO, particularly if shareholders were disgruntled behind the scenes."

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