Category: 3. Business

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Pets at Home is in the doghouse. And not the padded fabric kind found on the retailer’s own shelves. The UK purveyor of pet food, supplies and medicine is getting mauled: in the past six months, pre-tax profit at its retail business, which makes up around two-thirds of revenue, the rest coming from sales to vets, fell by over 80 per cent.

Dog demographics are not on Pets At Home’s side. The great pandemic pet boom created a surge in demand for beds, collars, crates and treats as new owners kitted out a new generation of companions. Those mollycoddled pups have aged into a cohort of adults requiring less in the way of maintenance. The overall dog market is about flat in sales terms, the company posits, accessories suffering more than food. 

The decline in Pets At Home’s revenue suggests it is faring worse than the average, and gross profitability has been dented by competition. The problem, it would appear, is that canines have fashion trends too, which Pets At Home has misjudged.

In accessories — theoretically the business with the highest gross margins — online rivals such as Amazon and Temu are tough to beat on price, analysts at RBC note. Both, along with online pet platforms like Pets Corner and the US’s Chewy, are nimbler in spotting the next big thing, be it GPS-enabled collars or smart feeders.

Meanwhile, dog food is no longer just dried pellets. It can be raw, freeze-dried, insect-based or probiotic. Startups like Butternut Box and The Farmer’s Dog, which offer a subscription-based experience, and Tuggs, which produces insect-based food, have turned pet food into a lifestyle choice. Online platforms are aggressively staking a claim on that market too. 

Pets At Home is partly to blame for its woes. Investing in food and accessory innovation might get sales growing again. As the pandemic pet generation ages, demographics should become more favourable: more supplements and orthopaedic dog beds.

The challenges Pets At Home faces are not dissimilar to those of High Street fashion retailers, struggling to compete with cheaper and quicker internet giants. The group’s valuation, at less than one times this year’s forecast revenue according to S&P Capital IQ, reflects that.

Across the Atlantic, shares in US petcare chain Petco have slumped nearly 90 per cent in five years. Pets are easy to love; listed pet stores, it turns out, not so much.

gaia.freydefont@ft.com

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A former employee of US investment bank Jefferies International has been charged with insider trading by the UK regulator for allegedly telling a friend about a takeover of a London-listed company that he was advising.

The Financial Conduct Authority said on Wednesday it had started criminal proceedings against Bobosher Sharipov, a former banker at Jefferies, and his “close friend and business associate” Bekzod Avazov.

Sharipov was working at Jefferies when he advised GCP Student Living on a planned £969mn takeover of the London-listed student accommodation investment fund by US private capital group Blackstone and Dutch pension fund APG in 2021. 

The former Jefferies banker allegedly passed on confidential details about the takeover to Avazov, who is then accused of purchasing shares in GCP and making spread bets that made almost £70,000 in profit when its takeover was announced, the FCA said. 

The watchdog was alerted to what it claimed were suspicious trades in GCP shares by Avazov “given the timing and profit” of the purchases. It then analysed public records to find his close relationship to Sharipov. The two men were former colleagues and flatmates, it said.

“We believe that Mr Sharipov took advantage of his position so he and his friend Mr Avazov could benefit through committing crime and gaming the system,” said Steve Smart, FCA executive director of enforcement and market oversight.

“The integrity and cleanliness of our markets rely on trust,” he said. “It is right that this case is heard by the courts.” 

Insider trading carries a maximum seven-year jail sentence. The FCA has issued general warnings this year to bankers about leaks, which have come alongside an increase in unusual trading activity.

Nearly four in 10 UK takeovers were reported in the media before their announcement in the 14 months to May this year, according to a Financial Times freedom of information request to the FCA.

The two men appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday and neither entered a plea, the FCA said. The case has been assigned to Southwark Crown Court.

The regulator said Jefferies had co-operated fully with the investigation. Sharipov previously also worked at Swiss bank UBS, according to his entry in the FCA register.

Jefferies declined to comment.

Additional reporting by Ortenca Aliaj and Suzi Ring in London

Let’s cut to the chase: the Secret Lair x Monster Hunter™ Superdrop we revealed last week fell short of expectations. We heard loud and clear that you were disappointed, and we believe we can do better. So, we’re going to postpone this release and rework this Superdrop entirely.

Like many of you, we’re big fans of Monster Hunter. It’s why we put this Superdrop together. But in our excitement, we missed the mark on elements like card selection and faithfully integrating the world and mechanics of Monster Hunter. As a result, the overall construction of this Superdrop is not up to the standard you have come to expect.

Pulling Superdrops back isn’t something we’re going to do very often, but we’re committed to doing better. Capcom is on board for us to take another swing at this Superdrop as well.

So, we’re going to pull this one back and will share new details and an updated release date in a few months. Keep an eye out for more information in 2026.

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New York City’s top finance official has urged three of the city’s biggest pension funds to drop BlackRock as a manager of more than $42bn, as the metropolis looks to use its weight in markets to tackle climate change.

Brad Lander, the city comptroller, on Wednesday said BlackRock and two other asset managers, Fidelity and PanAgora, had failed “to address climate risk with the seriousness we expect” as he recommended the pension funds begin reviewing new financial advisers to manage their stock portfolios.

Lander, a Democrat, joins a broadening group of elected officials who are seeking to influence environmental and social causes through the investment choices of their pension plans, putting giants such as BlackRock and State Street in their crosshairs.

His push aims to counter gains that conservative activists made over the past three years as campaigns to divest from asset managers that sought to limit their investments in coal and oil and gas entities took shape.

Texas in 2022 blacklisted several asset managers, including BlackRock, for what it called a fossil fuel “boycott”. Last year the state’s attorney-general alongside 10 Republican-led states sued the three largest US index fund managers over their coal investment policies.

Lander said BlackRock was “unable” to meet several of the pension systems’ climate expectations, including encouraging portfolio companies to take “concrete” actions, such as setting net zero goals and adopting clear transition plans.

The outgoing New York City comptroller, who campaigned alongside mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani ahead of his victory this month, is considering a run for US Congress.

As part of his recommendation, Lander criticised BlackRock’s interpretation of guidance from the US Securities and Exchange Commission in February, which he said was more conservative than rival asset managers. The SEC guidelines were viewed as an attack on the use of environmental, social and governance factors in investing and prompted some money managers to cancel meetings they had with companies.

“[BlackRock CEO] Larry Fink has said out loud climate risk is financial risk,” Lander told the Financial Times, labelling the decarbonisation plan BlackRock submitted to the city as “inadequate”.

Lander said he did not “buy” BlackRock’s interpretation of the SEC guidelines and pointed out that State Street, which is the New York City pension systems’ second-largest manager, was demonstrating it was possible to meet the city’s climate expectations.

“Whether [BlackRock is] scared of the Trump administration or looking for an excuse, what I do know is climate risk is financial risk . . . and we need asset managers who attend to the long-term risks in our portfolio,” Lander told the FT.

The recommendation from Lander’s report does not affect about $9bn of holdings BlackRock manages for the city’s pensions, which include investments in mortgage, private and Treasury markets.

Armando Senra, who runs BlackRock’s institutional business in the Americas, said the company had met with the city’s pension investment team and provided it with more extensive climate engagement options.

“You accused BlackRock of abdicating its financial duty and putting New York City’s pensions at risk,” Senra said. “These statements are another instance of the politicisation of public pension funds, which undermines the retirement security of hardworking New Yorkers.”

A spokesperson for comptroller-elect Mark Levine said he “appreciates the work reflected in the Net Zero Implementation Plan update and will review these recommendations with the trustees”.

Fidelity and PanAgora did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In light of the information published regarding the launch by the company Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP), with whom the club recently formalised a sponsorship agreement making the company the Club’s Official Cryptographic Protocol Partner, FC Barcelona wishes to clarify the following:

• FC Barcelona has no connection whatsoever with the company’s token.
• The club has no responsibility for, or involvement in, the issuance or management of this token, nor does it use the associated technology. 
• Neither the existence nor the issuance of this token formed part of the sponsorship agreement previously signed with the club.

FC Barcelona reaffirms its commitment to transparency and to respecting its institutional agreements, and will announce any relevant updates as soon as conclusive information is available.