Pets at Home boss Lyssa McGowan has not ruled out job cuts and prices rises ahead of the upcoming tax rises.
The chief executive told Retail Gazette that the pet specialist will “mitigate what we can” but warned it will have to “look at our overall cost structures” to cover the bill.
Pets At Home estimated the increase in employers’ National Insurance Contributions and National Living wage will cost the business an additional £18m each year.
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She said: “We will mitigate what we can. That’s not to say we can mitigate all £18m, and we will have to look across the full suite of levers, just like every other retail business, to see what we can do, and we’re in that process right now.”
“We’ve got no current plans for job losses…I don’t think anybody can rule those out, but that’s certainly not in our plans right now.”
She is the latest retail boss to speak out about the additional costs added to its bill. HMV owner Doug Putman revealed the chain had paused its store openings for next year and warned of job cuts.
“When we look at next year, we’ve got everything on pause so we could end up opening five stores. but I think more than likely we’re not. I think we’re probably getting close to zero,” said Putman, who added “I would be surprised if we could find a way to get through this without cutting jobs”.
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