Pets at Home (LON:PETS) reported group revenue growth of 9.6 percent during the third quarter of its financial year, pushing shares up over 7 percent in early trading.

Revenue for the period as a whole rose to £223.3 million, with merchandise revenue growing 9 percent and services revenue growing 13.6 percent..

Its First Opinion vet practices continued to deliver “strong growth across both new and mature surgeries”, with the company opening two new Pets at Home superstores, two Vets4Pets practices and five Groom Room salons. It confirmed it was on track to deliver full year opening targets of around 10 superstores, 40-50 vet practices and 20-30 grooming salons, and said financial guidance for the full year was unchanged.

“I’m happy to report further progress in the third quarter, where trading momentum in our merchandise division built over the Christmas period,” chief executive Ian Kellett said.

“In the year since we launched our lower pricing initiatives we have seen a really strong customer response to the investments we have made.”

“At the same time, we continued to deliver strong growth in our veterinary business across both first opinion practices and specialist referral centres.”

Shares in Pets at Home are currently trading up 7.27 percent at 195.24 (0826GMT).