‘Very good’ first half for Reckitt Benckiser

The household, health and personal care goods manufacturer said its 20% increase in revenues to £3.1 billion (£2.6bn)and pre-tax profit to £581 million (£494m)had largely come from its ‘powerbrands’ such as Finish, Vanish, Dettol, Lysol and Airwick. Commenting on the results, CEO Bart Becht (pictured) said: “Reckitt Benckiser had a very good first half with 11% net revenue growth. Growth was driven by higher investment in our powerbrands and successful innovations such as Finish Max in 1, Airwick Symphonia and Nurofen Express.” For the full year, the group was on track to achieve at least its previously communicated net revenue growth target of 11-12% and was also fully on track to achieve a full year net income growth target of 11%, he added. The company said it had significantly increased its investment in marketing, increasing its spend on advertising by 25% to a level of 13.5% of net revenues. Half year growth in Reckitt’s household products came particularly from Surface Care (disinfectant cleaners), Automatic Dishwashing (Electrasol 3in1 Powerball tabs and Jet Dry Turbo Dry), Home Care (products like Airwick Freshmatic) and Health & Personal Care (Nurofen and Strepsils). Food grew strongly due to the consumer brands of French's yellow mustard, French's Fried Onions and Frank's Red Hot sauce. In pharmaceuticals, the group's heroin addiction treatments Subutex and Suboxone prescription drug business grew 43% to £137m, exclusively driven by an increase in penetration of Suboxone in the USA.