1H 2022 Deal Hound – Pet M&A Report

It’s a familiar mantra that the pet care and services industry is “recession proof.” Some 70% of U.S. households include a pet, and Americans treat their pets like family and have been willing to spend on them like family, even to the point of spoiling them. In the U.S. alone, pet expenditures in 2021 exceeded $123 billion, including $50 billion in food and treats and nearly $10 billion in grooming, boarding, and even pet health insurance. Activity in the industry remained high in the first half of 2022, after seeing a hefty jump in 2021 over the previous year in the pet food subsector. And we continue to see activity in 1H22 both from private equity and from industry leaders seeking synergistic opportunities to grow and profit. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t factors to watch, consumer trends to monitor, and opportunities to be explored. Emerging inflation concerns may be challenging consumer discretionary spending and rising interest rates may challenge investors looking to borrow. We’ve seen that people will spend on their pets, but is there a limit? Housing prices are higher. Gasoline prices are dancing around $5 a gallon. And we’re seeing the kind of inflation we haven’t seen since Ronald Reagan’s first year in the White House…