18th Apr 2019 07:56
LONDON (Alliance News) - Rentokil Initial PLC on Thursday reported revenue growth in the first quarter of 2019 as a result of acquisitions and robust organic growth from its Hygiene and Pest Control units.
The pest control and property care company's revenue was up at GBP607.4 million for the three months to March 31 from GBP550.7 million the year before. This represents a 10% rise at actual exchange rates and an 8.6% rise at constant currency.
Rentokil's ongoing revenue for the period was up to GBP603.6 million from GBP545.9 million, up 11% at actual exchange rates and 8.9% at constant currency.
Rentokil's ongoing revenue represents the performance of its continuing operations after removing the effect of closed or disposed businesses.
Within the 8.9% constant currency increase in ongoing revenue, 4.0% was organic and the other 4.9% was from acquisitions.
In terms of units, Pest Control experienced a 12% year-on-year rise in ongoing revenue - 5.0% of which was organic - and Hygiene had ongoing revenue growth of 7.2% of which 4.3% was organic.
Protect & Enhance's performance, however, was in line with the same quarter of 2018, in which it reported a 0.1% decline in ongoing revenue as a result of market weakness in its UK Property Care business.
In its first quarter, Rentokil agreed eight acquisitions, of which four were in Pest Control and four were in Hygiene.
In December the company agreed a bulk annuity insurance buy-in for its UK pension scheme with a full buy-out to complete in early 2020.
Rentokil said it is making "good progress" toward the buy-out and now expects a pretax surplus of around GBP40 million will be returned once the buy-out is concluded.
Rentokil Chief Executive Andy Ransom said: "We have had a good start to 2019 and I'm pleased with our performance in the first three months of this year. I am confident of another year of successful growth for the Company, in line with market expectations."
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