2023-06-06 04:00:00
CT scans, ultrasounds, endoscopy, radiology, MRIs. Heavy and complex cancer treatments. Cardiac or orthopedic surgery. Emergency services open 24 hours a day. Completely free prices. Owners willing to pay high prices for their dogs and cats. And, therefore, veterinary practices that are now worth gold in the flourishing animal health market…
For the past three years, in France, the pet care sector has been undergoing rapid transformation, driven by ever more technical and costly acts, and by the emergence of multinationals or investment funds attracted by the profitability of the sector.
A figure sums up the upheaval of the veterinary world, historically built around the figure of the liberal practitioner, installed alone or with two or three colleagues. In 2017, only 2% of veterinary doctors specializing in companion animals were employees, directly or indirectly, of a group with several clinics. The proportion was 7% in 2020, it jumped to 24% at the end of 2022, driven by the bulimia of acquisitions of the ten most powerful groups in France, in particular IVC Evidensia, AniCura, Mon véto or Sevetys. “We estimate that their proportion should represent approximately 50% by 2025”says Lucile Frayssinet, consultant at Phylum, a consulting firm specializing in agriculture.
Two factors have combined to shake up the market. First, the exhaustion of the liberal model where veterinarians work sixty to seventy hours a week. “The relationship to work has evolved in our sector, as elsewhere. Work-life balance is looked at more carefully than before”notes Jacques Guérin, the president of the National Council of the Order of Veterinarians.
“Today, young doctors, who are mostly women, do not want to become business leaders, invest their own money, spend seventy hours a week working and carrying medical, administrative and managerial responsibilities. Wage employment has become a strong demand »notes Emeric Lemarignier, boss of Argos (100 clinics in France) and spokesperson for the lobby of veterinary groups.
Animals “more and more humanized”
Secondly, the appetite of large international companies which have seen companion animal health as a buoyant and profitable sector. In the United States, in the United Kingdom, in Northern Europe, initially. Then in France. AniCura, owned by Mars, a food and feed supplier, has grown strongly since the 2000s.
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