Advanced pet treatments help UK 100 veterinary businesses bring in more than £1.3 billion a year – and offer new opportunities for lessors

LDF, one of the UK’s leading commercial finance groups, reports that there are two factors driving this trend.

Firstly there has been an increase in the availability of advanced medical procedures for animals. Secondly increasing numbers of pet owners are willing to pay for these services, either up front or through dramatically higher pet insurance premiums.

Peter Alderson, managing director of LDF said: “as veterinary science has improved, many of the treatments previously available only to humans have been successfully adapted for veterinary purposes. Also the variety of therapeutic care on offer for animals has risen.

“For example, some animals are now treated by specialist veterinary cardiologists; are fitted with bespoke prosthetic legs; or receive courses of dialysis. Whilst some of these treatments may be covered by pet insurance many will not. Some veterinary practices offer additional alternative medical treatments, such as canine hydrotherapy, which are also unlikely to be covered.”

New technology

Alderson explained that offering some of these advanced treatments has required significant financial investment in new technology by veterinary practices. As such debt levels in the veterinary sector have also doubled since 2010, now standing at £307 million, up from £151 million.*

There has also been considerable consolidation in the sector, with several large veterinary companies operating hundreds of clinics in the UK. These larger groups benefit from being better able to access capital to invest in offering a variety of the most up to date treatments and technology.

Alderson said: “Large veterinary practices are investing in the most up to date technology and offering more treatment options for animals. These treatments can be costly, but many pet owners will see them as value for money.”

“Many treatments require vets to make large upfront investments in advanced medical technology and instruments. As demand for these types of treatment rises more vets will have to invest to avoid losing high value work to competitors.

“The cost of racehorses, and even some pedigree dogs, can run into tens of thousands of pounds, so for some owners and breeders these treatments might make financial, as well as emotional, sense.

“To compete with large rivals, vets need to keep up to date with the most advanced treatments on offer. One option for individual vets is to use alternative finance options such as leasing in order to access advanced medical devices and carve out a specialism in a very competitive market.”

The turnover of the UK’s 100 biggest vets has risen more than doubled since 2010

The amount of debt owed by the 100 largest vets has also doubled in the last five years

*Debt includes long term debt, short term loans, bank overdrafts, and hire purchase and leasing.