A busy sector

The Australian company Greencross Vets, based in Brisbane, merged with the pet specialist retailer Petbarn in a deal worth than A$ 330 mio. Heinz Dennerle, the founder of Dennerle, passed away. The 64-year-old stepped down from the operational side of the business a year ago for health reasons and handed his official roles over to Peter Koch. After establishing the traditional Palatinate company in 1966, Dennerle steadily expanded it with his brother Ludwig, who died in 2006. North American pet insurance gross written premiums were expected to reach $ 618 mio by the end of 2013, up 15 per cent from $539 mio in 2012, according to a report by the market survey company Packaged Facts. The 10th Zoo Vet Expo of Ukraine's pet industry and retail business took place on 1 - 3 April in Kiev. The study "GfK Purchasing Power Europe 2013/2014" from market research company GfK Geo marketing revealed a massive imbalance in purchasing power across Europe. The top 3 European countries in terms of purchasing power per inhabitant were Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Norway. Finland came tenth. The international pet speciality group Petland is growing internationally and expanded its franchise borders into Central and South America, with stores opening in Brazil in early 2014. The pet supplies market in Scandinavia experienced varying rates of growth in 2013, according to the market research institute Euromonitor International. Cat food sales in Sweden in 2013 amounted to € 381.4 mio, in Norway € 219.5 mio, in Finland € 201.1 mio and in Denmark € 170.5 mio. H.H. Backer Associates Inc. cancelled their spring trade show from 9 to 11 April at the Atlantic City Convention Center as they could not get enough exhibitor support. The European pet food manu-facturer PPF reported sales growth of 6 per cent for 2013. Total group sales for the previous year were € 225 mio across the 28 markets in which the Budapest company operates. The international pet food manufacturer Aller Petfood of Denmark took over the management of the Turkish company Petfood Sanayi Ve Ticaret. Pets at Home continued to expand and now operates 368 stores in total, having added 23 new outlets in the last year. In seven of the 23 new stores, Pets at Home created both a veterinary surgery and a Groom Room grooming salon.
Torsten Toeller is chairman of the board of directors of the European holding company (SE) into which Fressnapf was recently converted and thus continues to be active in the operations of Europe's…