Shares in pet store group Pets at Home (LON:PETS) rose over 7 percent in early trading on Tuesday, after reporting strong growth in both revenue and sales.

Like-for-like sales for the 16 weeks to 1 April grew 2.7 per cent, with sales in the services division by by 18.8 percent. Total revenue came to £256.5 million, with £216.4 million of that from merchandise.

Ian Kellet, Pets at Home’s group chief executive, said he was “pleased with our positive start to the year”, and that the group had delivered another period of strong growth.

“We have continued our everyday lower price repositioning and reduced the reliance on short-term promotional discounts. We remain encouraged by the overall response to our pricing changes and by the number of both new customers and those we have welcomed back”, Kellet said.

Shares in Pets at Home are currently trading up 6.74 percent at 183.91 (1214GMT).