24th November 2016
CVS Group plc
("CVS" or the "Group")
Annual General Meeting Statement
CVS, the UK's leading provider of veterinary services, is holding its AGM at 11:00 am today at which Richard Connell, Chairman, will provide the following update to shareholders:
"The Board is pleased to announce that in the four month period ended 31 October 2016 the Group's like-for-like sales grew by 6.3% compared to the same period last year. Gross margins have improved and underlying profitability for the period to 31 October 2016 is ahead of the Board's expectations.
Since the start of the current financial year on 1 July 2016 the Group made a total of eight acquisitions of 18 surgeries bringing the total number of surgeries to 378. The acquisitions were:
Practice name |
No. of sites |
Main locations |
Business |
Davidson Veterinary Care |
3 |
Nottingham |
Small animal |
Buttercross Veterinary Care |
3 |
Nottingham |
Small animal |
Church Walk Vets |
2 |
Ulverston, Barrow-In-Furness |
Small animal |
Batheaston Veterinary Clinic |
1 |
Bath |
Small animal |
Deveron Veterinary Surgeons |
2 |
Turriff & Macduff |
Small animal, large animal & equine |
Haven Veterinary Surgeons |
1 |
Great Yarmouth |
Small animal |
Forrest House Vets |
3 |
Bedale, Northallerton, Masham |
Small animal, large animal & equine |
Kliniek voor Gezelschapsdieren Dieren |
3 |
Dieren, Brummer, Velp (The Netherlands) |
Small animal |
The acquisition of further practices in the UK has continued the geographic development of the Group across the country and has further developed the large animal and equine as well as the small animal businesses.
Particularly exciting is our first acquisition in The Netherlands. Kliniek voor Gezelschapsdieren Dieren is a high quality, small animal practice based in the east of the Netherlands. It is intended that this acquisition is the start of the development of a business in The Netherlands on a similar basis to the CVS Group in the UK.
The pipeline of acquisitions remains strong."
Contacts:
CVS Group plc
Simon Innes, Chief Executive
Nick Perrin, Financial Director 01379 644 288
N+1 Singer (Nominated Adviser & Broker) 020 7496 3000
Aubrey Powell
Liz Yong
James Hopton