Who owns Pets at Home?

Nobody owns Pets at Home outright. It is a public company listed on the London Stock Exchange, so it belongs to whoever holds its 437 million shares. Every share carries the same vote, and no shareholder in the company's latest list of large holders has more than about a tenth of them.

The largest holders it lists are fund managers. At the end of March 2026 the biggest disclosed holding was Neuberger Berman's, at 10.42%, followed by Fidelity Management & Research at 9.08%. The company is run from its head office in Handforth, Cheshire, by a board whose chief executive, James Bailey, joined in March 2026.

So the answer is the stock market. Pets at Home is British and was once owned by private equity firms, but since it floated in 2014 no single person, family or firm has controlled it.

What does the register show?

The listed company is Pets at Home Group Plc, company number 08885072, incorporated on 10 February 2014. Its registered office is on Epsom Avenue, Stanley Green Trading Estate, Handforth, Cheshire, which is also its head office.

Its register of persons with significant control does not name anyone. Companies House says the company has been exempt from keeping that register since 10 February 2019, because its voting shares are traded on a UK regulated market. That exemption applies to listed companies generally, and it does not mean anything is hidden: listed companies disclose large holdings through stock-market notices instead.

On 1 October 2026 the company reported 437,234,855 ordinary shares of 1p each, all with equal voting rights and none held in treasury. That number is falling because the company is buying back its own shares and cancelling them. Its annual report says it bought and cancelled 11,206,460 shares in the year to March 2026, and its results announced a further £50 million of buybacks over the following twelve months.

Who are the big shareholders?

A shareholder generally has to tell the company, and the company has to announce it, when a holding crosses 3% and each whole percentage point above that. Fund managers holding shares for clients are given wider steps, starting at 5%.

The annual report for the year to 26 March 2026 lists the holdings the company had been told about by 31 March 2026:

The report says these are the positions on the day each holder notified the company, and that they may have changed since. Some already have. Schroders told the company that it had dropped below 5% on 7 April 2026, to 4.98%. Tweedy Browne, the US fund manager, reported 5.02% on 24 July 2026 and 4.78% on 28 August 2026. Neuberger Berman's last notice, for 30 September 2025, was 10.01%.

All but one of the names on the list are investment managers holding shares for their clients' funds. The exception, Norbel Inversiones SL, is a Spanish company; the report does not say who is behind it. The ten listed holdings add up to about 59% of the shares, although they were notified at different times, and none is anywhere near control.

Who runs it?

The board has seven directors. James Bailey became chief executive on 30 March 2026. The company announced his appointment on 23 December 2025; he was most recently managing director of Waitrose, from April 2020. Sarah Pollard joined the board as chief financial officer on 27 March 2026, the day her predecessor, Mike Iddon, retired.

The chair is Ian Burke. The previous chief executive, Lyssa McGowan, left with immediate effect on 18 September 2025, announced in the same statement that lowered the company's profit guidance, and Burke ran the business as interim executive chair until Bailey arrived, then went back to being non-executive chair. The other non-executive directors are Roger Burnley, Natalie-Jane Macdonald, Zarin Patel and Garret Turley.

How did it get here?

Published histories of the company say Anthony Preston opened the first Pets at Home store in Chester in 1991, and that the private equity firm Bridgepoint bought the business in 2004.

In 2010 Bridgepoint sold it to another private equity firm, KKR. The law firm that advised KKR says the deal size "was reported to be in excess of £950 million". KKR then floated Pets at Home on the stock market: the shares were admitted to the London Stock Exchange's main market on 17 March 2014, according to the company's annual report. KKR does not appear among the holders listed in that report.

Is anyone trying to buy it?

Not that the company has announced. Its stock-market announcements from July 2025 to October 2026 cover results, trading updates, board changes, share buybacks, voting rights and shareholder notices. None of them is an offer, an approach or a strategic review.

The other big event of 2026 was regulatory rather than about ownership. The Competition and Markets Authority finished its market investigation into veterinary services, and the annual report says the company welcomed the final decision while its remedies are still being put in place.

Who owns the Pets at Home vets?

This is where ownership gets less simple. At the end of March 2026 the group had 455 vet practices: 48 it runs itself and 407 joint-venture practices. The practice companies listed in its annual report trade as Vets4Pets and Companion Care.

Each joint-venture practice is a separate company run with a vet partner, whom the company calls a practice owner. Pets at Home holds shares in every one, but its accounts say those shares do not give it control and do not entitle it to the practice's profits. It earns fees for the support it provides instead, and it does not count the practices' sales as its own.

So a Vets4Pets practice is partly a local vet's business. It still uses the group's brand, systems and support, and the group holds shares in it, which is why we do not treat it as an independent vet.

How big is it?

In the 52 weeks to 26 March 2026 the group's revenue was £1,469.6 million, down from £1,481.7 million, and its underlying profit before tax was £92.8 million, down from £133.0 million. It also reports a wider figure, consumer revenue of £1,981.0 million, which swaps the fees it charges the joint-venture practices for what customers spent at them.

At the end of that year it had 460 pet care centres, 339 grooming salons and the 455 vet practices, with about 17,000 colleagues and clinicians. Its latest accounts were filed at Companies House on 27 June 2026.

Is Pets at Home independent?

Not in the sense we use. Our verified independent badge marks a locally and privately owned business, not a branch of a chain. A Pets at Home store is one of 460 run by a listed company, so it is a branch.

The useful label is national chain, listed on the London Stock Exchange. It is the same answer as Games Workshop, another listed company with no controlling shareholder.

Jollyes, which describes itself as the UK's second-largest pet retailer, is owned very differently: Jollyes belongs to a private equity firm. Independent pet shops are a separate matter again, owned by the people who run them, and they are what our search is built to find. For the online side, see independent pet supplies online, and who owns the rest.

Questions people ask

Is Pets at Home British?

Yes. It is incorporated in England, its head office is in Handforth, Cheshire, and its shares are listed in London. Most of its large shareholders are fund managers, several of them based abroad, as with most listed companies.

Who is the CEO of Pets at Home?

James Bailey, chief executive since 30 March 2026. He was previously managing director of Waitrose.

Is Pets at Home on the stock market?

Yes, on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker PETS. It has been listed since March 2014.

Is Pets at Home owned by private equity?

Not now. Bridgepoint and then KKR owned it before it floated in 2014. Today its shares are spread among investors, mostly fund managers.

Are Pets at Home vets independent?

Not as we use the word. Most Vets4Pets and Companion Care practices are joint ventures between a vet and the Pets at Home group, which holds shares in each one and supports it in return for fees.

Last checked 8 October 2026. This article uses the Companies House record for Pets at Home Group Plc (company 08885072): its overview, officer list, filing history and the persons-with-significant-control page, which gives the listed-company exemption from 10 February 2019; the annual report and accounts for the 52 weeks to 26 March 2026, read for the shareholder information, the board and governance sections and the accounting notes on the joint-venture practices; the preliminary results announcement of 27 May 2026; the announcement of the chief executive's appointment on 23 December 2025; the total voting rights announcement of 1 October 2026; the major-holdings notices filed by Neuberger Berman (30 September 2025), Schroders (7 April 2026) and Tweedy Browne (24 July and 28 August 2026); the board-changes announcement of 18 September 2025 and the list of the company's stock-market announcements from July 2025 to October 2026; and the account by Simpson Thacher, KKR's lawyers, of the 2010 purchase from Bridgepoint. The founding in 1991 by Anthony Preston and Bridgepoint's 2004 purchase come from published histories of the company rather than a filing. What is not claimed: a full list of shareholders, or anyone's holding below the reporting lines; any shareholder's stake today, since holdings change daily and the notices give the position only on the day a threshold was crossed; who is behind Norbel Inversiones SL; the directors' own shareholdings; the price Bridgepoint paid in 2004 or the exact price KKR paid in 2010; when KKR sold its last shares; the founder's later role; the CMA's remedies and when they take effect; and how many shares Pets at Home holds in each joint-venture practice, which varies. If you spot something that needs correcting, email Highstreett and we will review it.