(Reuters) – Pets At Home on Wednesday raised its profit outlook for fiscal 2022 and said it was on track for record profit growth, as UK’s largest pet supplies retailer saw sustained demand across its businesses in the third quarter.

Companies that operate in the animal care market are among the few winners during the pandemic as lockdowns and work-from-home policies have been accompanied by a surge in pet sales.

“We are firmly on track to report a record year of sales and profit growth,” Chief Executive Officer Peter Pritchard said while expressing confidence in the company’s long-term growth.

The company, which also offers grooming and veterinary services, said it now expects underlying pre-tax profit for the year ending March to be at least 140 million pounds ($189 million), compared with company-compiled analysts’ average estimate of 135 million pounds.

The group’s one-year like-for-like revenue rose 8.7% in the December-ending third quarter, although the growth rate slowed from 30.2% in the first quarter and 13.4% in the second as pandemic restrictions eased.

The company, like many other retailers, cautioned that it was witnessing a number of inflationary pressures across the supply chain and was proactively mitigating them through a series of initiatives targeting rent reductions, procurement savings and operational efficiencies.

Pets At Home said it was well advanced in its search for a replacement for CEO Pritchard, who announced in November that he would be stepping down after more than a decade with the company.

Shares of the company rose more than 2% in early trade and were among the top percentage gainers on the FTSE Midcap index.

($1 = 0.7406 pounds)

(Reporting by Chris Peters in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Subhranshu Sahu)