Consumer products group Reckitt Benckiser has posted a 2% decline in like-for-like revenue, at constant exchange rates, in the second quarter of the year.
The parent company of Dettol and Durex, which last week announced the sale of its food business to US spice company McCormick, posted net revenue of £2.48 billion for the period, which was a 14% increase at actual exchange rates, and a 3% increase at constant exchange rates, for the period.
In its first half, Reckitt Benckiser posted sales of £5.02 billion, which was 14% higher at actual exchange rates, and 2% higher at constant exchange rates. However, like-for-like growth for H1 was down 1%.
Adjusted operating profit for the half was £1.19 billion, which is 1% higher at constant exchange rates, and 16% higher at actual exchange rates.
The period also saw Reckitt Benckiser announce the acquisition of the Mead Johnson Nutrition business.
Significant Progress
“In the first half of the year, we have made significant progress on portfolio transformation and becoming a more focused consumer health and hygiene business, with both the acquisition of Mead Johnson Nutrition, and the agreed sale of our Food business,” commented Rakesh Kapoor, Reckitt Benckiser chief executive.
“From an operational perspective, as expected we had a tough first half, with challenging conditions exacerbated by a sophisticated cyber-attack. Notwithstanding this, the business remains strong and our earnings model intact. We saw broad-based growth across the majority of our consumer health brands."
Kapoor added that the company continues to "innovate strongly across our Hygiene segment with good success, and Home (ex-Korea) continues to perform in line with our expectations.”
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
