NVS is a business based upon trust, confidence and the highest quality customer service, whose aims are to continue to deliver the highest quality services to support the growth of the veterinary practice business.

NVS was founded in 1989 from an amalgamation of several wholesalers under the name of Willington's. In 1992 the company was purchased by the Lloyds Group (A wing of Lloyds chemists). In January 1997, Lloyds Sold NVS to Gehe Pharmaceutical/AAH.

June 1997 saw NVS become an independent company again following the very successful management buyout by the directors and Venture Capital Group in June 1997, in which the Dechra Group was formed.

In July 2000, The Directors of The Dechra Group made some important strategic decisions to float the group on the London stock exchange and become a PLC. This decision has to enable the company to steer the business towards innovative growth and reinvestment to compete with the challenges facing the whole of the veterinary industry.

This has enabled the company to repay debt to release strong cash flow and repay the Venture Capitalist loan.

In 2002, Dechra Pharmaceuticals acquired three new companies to integrate into the group. Anglian Pharmaceuticals, North Western Laboratories Ltd and Cambridge Specialist Laboratory Services Ltd. These companies were acquired to enhance our services to the veterinary industry and to add value and share synergies with the other companies within the group, namely Arnolds Veterinary Products and Dales Pharmaceuticals.

In January 2008, Dechra acquired Vetxx, which produces and markets veterinary diets, care products and medicines. Vetxx has a strong European footprint, allowing for further expansion in Europe, and to give Dechra a sales and distribution network to market the enlarged product range and future developed products to veterinary practices and wholesalers within eight European countries, in addition to the UK and Ireland in which Dechra currently operates. NVS has gone from strength to strength and through developing the most efficient warehousing, logistic and trunking operations within Europe, NVS is now the largest veterinary wholesaler in the UK, employing over 460 employees and enjoying a market share in excess of 42%.