Gold Coast listed company National Veterinary Care announces 41 per cent boost to net profit after acquisition spree

A GOLD Coast based veterinary services company now owns or provides management services to nearly one in five vet clinics in Australia after a buying spree in the past three years.

National Veterinary Care, led by managing director Tomas Steenackers (pictured with Chevy) has boosted its net profit by 41 per cent for the past financial year. Picture: Glenn Hampson

ORMEAU-based National Veterinary Care is gearing up to take an even bigger bite of the pet healthcare market, after achieving a massive boost to its net profit in the past financial year.

NVL announced this morning a 26 per cent boost to its revenue to $84.2 million, and a statutory net profit of $6.23 million — 41 per cent higher than FY17.

Its underlying net profit — which strips out one-off items — grew 6.5 per cent to $6.29 million.

It acquired 13 additional veterinary businesses in the past 12 months, taking its total number to 66 clinics (67 if its August acquisition is included).

With 403 clinics using its management services arm, NVL now estimates it represents almost one in five clinics in Australia.

Managing director Tomas Steenackers told the Bulletin the company is targeting an extra 10 to 15 acquisitions this financial year following a heavy investment in system integration and support offices capabilities.

National Veterinary Care owns and operates veterinary clinics in Australia and New Zealand. Managing Director Tomas Steenackers with Chevy at its Yatala clinic. Picture: Glenn Hampson

“Now we have the capacity to handle 100 clinics and after that we will have to review and finetune but we don’t like just adding people all the time,” he said.

“I think we want to leverage technology and be able to be smarter and agile when we buy businesses or when we integrate. What I mean by that is having more time to look after people and train them well.”

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Mr Steenackers said the company battled difficult trading conditions in June, which impacted its underlying pre-tax earnings margin — that is earnings expressed as a percentage of total revenue.

“It was a really tough June for us, for whatever reason, it is still quite hard to identify the reason,” he said.

National Veterinary Care managing director Tomas Steenackers with Bear. The company has released a net profit 41 per cent higher than last year. Picture: Mike Batterham

“Melbourne was extremely cold and that sometimes affects foot traffic. That’s why in July we had to put out a downgrade, initially, but it ended up better than expected. The downgrade was 15 to 16 per cent and we ended up at 15.9 per cent.”

Mr Steenackers said its Melbourne training centre was trading well and it is also planning to open a new centre in Christchurch, New Zealand, where the company has 10 clinics.

“Initially it will have a smaller footprint, it is nice for the Kiwis to come to Queensland for training,” he said.

“It will host 20 to 25 training sessions per year, or one every two or three weeks.”

Mr Steenackers said there is a lot of room to grow its managed services division in New Zealand.

NVL launched United Vet Group NZ this month, gaining 15 clinics as clients.

Chief executive Tomas Steenackers and CFO Jason Beddow with Cleo the dog. Picture: Mike Batterham

“We are putting more a management presence in New Zealand,” he said.

“That’s so there is a bit of a flavour from New Zealand at NVL. There is a good market for us to grow over there. We think we can gain 30 per cent of the market in the next few years.”

Mr Steenackers said the company has come a long way since it listed in August, 2015.

“We want to make a difference in the vet industry,” he said.

“There are a lot of things that can be improved and a lot of support that can be given.”

NVL shares were up 3c, or 1.3 per cent, in intraday trading.