Pets At Home sees weaker H1 profit as stockpiling demand eases

(Reuters) - Pets At Home said on Thursday it expects first-half pretax profit to be to be materially below last year as the coronavirus-driven jump in demand it saw in the final weeks of the fourth quarter has started to unwind. The pet supplies retailer said underlying pretax profit rose 11% to 99.5 million pounds for the year ended March 26, as pet owners stocked up on food and basic medicines during a lockdown to curb the coronavirus pandemic.