Register

Login

+
  • View all news
  • Vets news
  • Vet Nursing news
  • Business news
  • + More
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
  • View all clinical
  • Small animal
  • Livestock
  • Equine
  • Exotics
  • Vet Times jobs home
  • All Jobs
  • Your ideal job
  • Post a job
  • Career Advice
  • Students
About
Contact Us
For Advertisers
NewsClinicalJobs

Vets

All Vets newsSmall animalLivestockEquineExoticWork and well-beingOpinion

Vet Nursing

All Vet Nursing newsSmall animalLivestockEquineExoticWork and well-beingOpinion

Business

All Business newsHuman resourcesBig 6SustainabilityFinanceDigitalPractice profilesPractice developments

+ More

VideosPodcasts

The latest veterinary news, delivered straight to your inbox.

Choose which topics you want to hear about and how often.

About

Advertise with us

Recruitment

Contact us

Vets

All Vets news

Small animal

Livestock

Equine

Exotic

Work and well-being

Opinion

Vet Nursing

All Vet Nursing news

Small animal

Livestock

Equine

Exotic

Work and well-being

Opinion

Business

All Business news

Human resources

Big 6

Sustainability

Finance

Digital

Practice profiles

Practice developments

Clinical

All Clinical content

Small animal

Livestock

Equine

Exotics

Jobs

All Jobs content

All Jobs

Your ideal job

Post a job

Career Advice

Students

More

All More content

Videos

Podcasts


Terms and conditions

Complaints policy

Cookie policy

Privacy policy

© Veterinary Business Development Ltd 2025

IPSO_regulated

11 Mar 2024

CVS has expansion plan optimism despite dip in profits

Despite inflationary pressures likely continuing for the foreseeable future, plus regulatory scrutiny of the wider sector, deputy chief executive Ben Jacklin remains confident of further growth.

author_img

Allister Webb

Job Title



CVS has expansion plan optimism despite dip in profits

Image: © everythingpossible / Adobe Stock

A fall in profits will not stop one of the UK’s largest veterinary companies investing in new staff and practices, both at home and abroad, a senior official has insisted.

CVS Group deputy chief executive Ben Jacklin conceded inflationary pressures were likely to continue for the foreseeable future after the company’s latest half-year results were published.

But despite that, and the ongoing interest of competition regulators in the sector, he remains confident of further expansion. He said: “We have a good pipeline and we expect to do more deals.”

‘Like-for-like growth’

Mr Jacklin was speaking after the company published its results for the six months to the end of December 2023 on 29 February.

He said there had been “good like-for-like growth”, following a 6% increase in sales, while revenues rose by 11.4% to £329.9 million.

But although the company’s preferred measurement of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation rose by 8.9% to £63 million, its operating profits were down by 9.2% to £28.6 million, while pre-tax profits dropped by 16.4% to £23.4 million.

Although overall inflation has been on a broader downward trajectory in recent months, standing at 4% in January, concerns persist that faster price increases are continuing to affect both veterinary businesses and their clients.

Wage inflation

Mr Jacklin acknowledged that cost rises were a factor, with wage inflation a greater issue for veterinary businesses than in other sectors, and conceded that was likely to remain the case for some time yet.

He said: “We’re still seeing inflationary increases and our expectation is we’re not past that.”

But another key influence is the enduring commitment to investment in new staff and practices, which has led to the company more than doubling its net bank borrowings to in excess of £129 million.

Alongside investment in new practice sites, such as the recently opened Bristol Vet Specialists, the latest results confirmed increases of more than 8% in the number of both vets and nurses employed during 2023, plus the spending of more than £63 million on 17 practice acquisitions, mostly in Australia.

Australia

The company expects to complete deals for at least 10 more Australian practices in the coming months, and Mr Jacklin said: “We see a great opportunity to build a really fantastic group of practices in Australia that share the values we’ve got. There’s a long, long way ahead of us over there.”

But the group is also confident of completing new deals in the UK, too, based on what it described as a more “prudent” approach following recent inquiries by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The company now briefs the CMA on potential acquisitions before they proceed because of competition concerns, while Mr Jacklin also sounded an upbeat tone on the authority’s wider review of the veterinary sector, the initial findings of which have yet to be published.

‘Really proud’

Asked whether the company was frustrated by the lack of updates so far, Mr Jacklin said: “Clearly, we’re looking forward to what the CMA have to say, but equally, we would far rather the CMA took a really thorough and detailed look at our profession and our business.

“We’re really proud of the things that we do for our clients, and our clients tell us that they’re really pleased with it.

“The more the CMA can do to learn about our profession, the more informed their view will be and I think the better the outcome is for the profession.”