31st Jul 2018 08:55
LONDON (Alliance News) - Rentokil Initial PLC on Tuesday affirmed its annual earnings guidance, raised its dividend, and said the absence of a large disposal gain led to a sharp drop in profit for the first half.
The pest control company recorded pretax profit of GBP109.5 million for the six months to June-end, down from the GBP592.9 million pretax profit recorded in the year ago period.
Last year, the company benefited from a GBP462.5 million gain on the disposal of Hygiene and Workwear assets to the Haniel joint venture.
First half reported revenue fell year-on-year to GBP1.18 billion from GBP1.21 billion, but revenue from continuing operations grew 14% to GBP1.17 billion.
The company lifted its interim dividend per share by 15% to 1.311 pence.
"I am pleased with our performance in the first half, with revenue, profit and cash all in excess of our medium-term targets. Pest Control has performed well, despite a late start to the pest season in North America. Encouragingly, our Europe region has continued to improve, with France returning to profitable growth after three years of decline," said Chief Executive Andy Ransom.
"M&A has again been strong in the period, with 20 pest control companies acquired in Growth and Emerging markets and 3 high-quality Hygiene acquisitions. We continue to see a full pipeline of value-enhancing acquisition opportunities going forward," Ransom added.
"As a result of our performance in H1, our guidance for the full year is unchanged."
Shares in the company were trading 2.3% lower at 334.80 pence each on Tuesday morning.
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