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The largest mixed veterinary practice in the Omagh area, Campsie Vets, is the latest in a growing list of private vets in NI selling to large corporate investors.
While the details of the deal are not known, it is understood that the financial packages on offer from the likes of Independent Vetcare (IVC) and CVS Group Ltd are, in many cases, too good to turn down.
The latest set of accounts for CVS show that it spent £52.3m on acquisitions of 52 vet surgeries in 2017. It now operates across the UK, the Netherlands, and in the last financial year to June 2018 bought its first practices in Ireland.
Rival company, IVC, which is also headquartered in England, now operates in eight countries across Europe. In the UK it owns over 690 practices, and employs over 1,800 vets. In NI, IVC owns the likes of Drumahoe Vet Clinic and Castle Vet Group based in Downpatrick, as well as a number of vets specialising in small animal work.
However, it is CVS who has been more active in taking on large animal practices in the last few months. It now has a significant presence west of the Bann, with the likes of O’Reilly and Fee, Armagh, Ballygawley Vets, Three Valleys based in Fivemiletown and Irvinestown, and Strule Vet Services, Newtownstewart, to sit alongside the newly acquired Campsie Vets. It also recently confirmed it has taken on Spires Veterinary Clinic in Omagh, a small animal practice.
The latest accounts for CVS show that it had a revenue of £327.3m for the year to June 2018, which is triple what it was back in 2013. Profit before tax was down slightly to £14.1m, while net debt stood at £69m.
The accounts also show that facilities of £190m are available to support growth over the coming years, suggesting that more acquisitions of private vet practices are inevitable. These facilities are provided by a syndicate of three banks, RBS, HSBC and AIB.
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