Private equity-backed premium petfood company Inspired Pet Nutrition’s revenues rocketed past £300m in 2025, its accounts have revealed, with turnover now expected to surpass £500m this year.
The group’s acquisition of wet dogfood maker Butcher’s helped propel IPN from £188.6m in revenue to £300.7m, according to freshly filed accounts for the year to 28 June 2025.
While IPN’s purchase of wet dogfood maker Butcher’s only came part of the way through the year on 1 October 2024, the acquisition helped boost EBITDA by 92% to £41.9m, as gross margin improved 4.9 percentage points.
Strong Organic growth from the company’s brands likewise contributed to the company’s results, with the Harringtons brand taking 6% more sales; Wagg grew 7.7% and Butchers 2.1%. Volumes across the three brands grew 2.2% despite price increases.
IPN’s massive growth did not stop at the end of its financial year. In July and August 2025 it announced the acquisition of “highly complementary” French petfood businesses Sopral and Ultra Premium Direct – and it has estimated it will now turn over more than £500m in its 2026 financial year.
IPN now employs more than 1,600 staff – up from 450 before the French acquisitions – across offices and manufacturing sites in the UK, France, Poland and Spain.
To fund its growth, the group has taken on hundreds of millions of pounds more debt, and has reinvested cash generated directly into the business.
While the investments, acquisitions and related finance costs have pushed IPN’s operating loss to £29.5m, the company is backed by private equity giant CapVest and is strongly cash generative.
The company’s reinvestment programme, made out of its own pockets, has seen it take on a brand-new £6m head office and distribution centre in Thirsk, totalling 60,000 sq ft, and in February 2026 it opened a 11,000 sq ft office in Bordeaux to support UPD’s launch into the Benelux. Further investments have been made in Butcher’s’ manufacturing facility in Crick.
A statement by directors attached to IPN’s accounts said the company was confident it could continue to grow the business both organically – for instance through its drive into the Benelux – and through strategic acquisitions.
Directors also warned of a “competitive economic environment”, however.
“The experience of significant channel shifts, demands for changing product formats and value propositions alongside continuing macroeconomic challenges and geopolitical uncertainty will require dynamic approaches to the group’s markets,” said an IPN spokesperson.
“Our people will continue to adapt by innovating and offering customers great value. Using our nutritional knowhow, manufacturing excellence and market insights, the group has optimised and will continue to innovate its portfolio.”
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