Yes, and I was one of the critics of their vet roll-up strategy...

Yes, and I was one of the critics of their vet roll-up strategy in the past - i think i even put a post on HC maybe 5-6 years ago saying that it would eventually blow up. I actually came across GXL because i have been a long-term holder of ONT, and i took a look at GXL to see if the story stacked up as well as ONT's - the conclusion i reached, as you say, was that GXL were being far too reckless with issuing equity and debt in their roll-up stage. For that reason, i never really took a serious look at it.

I got interested when they did the big bang transactions with Pet Barn and City Farmers, but there were just too many flags (e.g. related party deal with Jeff David on both GXL and Pet Barn boards before acquisition, buying businesses from PE vendors, stock price shot up to unreasonable levels, Jeff David suddenly leaving in mid 2015 etc.) for me to really take a look. The story is much better now that they are focusing on driving ROIC rather than pointless growth, and focusing on organic rather than acquisitive growth.

The vet business still doesn't earn its cost of capital, even now, but i hope that to gradually correct itself over the next 2-3 years as management focuses on driving returns from existing assets and shifts toward organic and longer-term more profitable growth, rather than simply buying short-term profit jumps.