The continued rise in ownership helped sales at Pets at Home grow during the first half of its financial year.
However the Cheshire-headquartered retailer's profits dipped because of the increase in freight and energy costs.
New figures filed with the London Stock Exchange have revealed that the company's revenue totalled £727.2m for the six months to October 13, 2022, up from the £677.6m it posted for the same period in 2021.
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Its pre-tax profits however dipped from £65.7m to £53.4m.
Chief executive Lyssa McGowan said: "In my first six months as CEO, I have spent my time forming a deep understanding of the business and sector, learning from the ground up how the business operates.
"I am more convinced that Pets at Home is well positioned to capitalise on an attractive growth opportunity in our structurally growing pet care market, supported by our unique blend of products and services, deeply embedded culture and expert, passionate colleagues, and partners.
"Our first half performance shows progress and resilience across the business. In a challenging macro-environment, the pet care industry remains in growth across all channels, and we have continued to acquire new customers at an impressive rate, setting new records for customer numbers in recent months."
On its current trading and outlook, Pets at Home said: "The business, and the wider pet care market, remains resilient and in growth. New customer acquisition remains strong with registrations into our Puppy & Kitten club accelerating throughout H1 and customer spend maintained across the group.
"Consumer demand remains strong, with a record number of UK pet owners continuing to prioritise spending on their pets, underpinned by the structural trends of humanisation and premiumisation. Trading post period end has continued in line with the Q2 run rate with LFLs in mid-single digits.
"We are conscious of the macro-economic backdrop and continue to manage the business proactively.
"The inflationary environment creates pressures for both our customers and the business. We are conscious of the challenges faced by many consumers, and continue to prioritise making pet care as convenient and affordable as possible. We will never let price be a reason not to shop with us.
"We continue to actively manage industry-wide cost headwinds, which we see persisting in the near term, in particular the impact of foreign exchange, energy, and National Living Wage.
"As well as directly mitigating these costs where possible, we are also proactively offsetting them through a range of self-help levers including our programme of rent reductions, and initiatives to target efficiencies across consumables and goods not for resale.
"We are driving further productivity gains across our stores and supply chain, leveraging technology to lower our overall cost to serve.
"We continue to expect full-year group underlying profit before tax to be in line with analyst consensus, despite the challenging macro-economic environment. Consensus is currently £131m, with a range of £121m-£136m.
"The business remains highly cash generative, and we expect to finish the year in a net cash position.
"Looking further ahead, the prospects for the business remain strong. We are continuing with our strategic investments, and our £2.3bn medium term customer revenue opportunity remains intact, having made better than expected progress to date."
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